Boris Johnson learned this morning that he can’t even command the majority support of his own siblings, as younger brother Jo Johnson dramatically quit as a minister and MP.
And if that weren’t bad enough – comments he made in an old interview have come back to haunt him.
He spoke to the Telegraph in 2013 after Ed Miliband beat his brother David to the Labour leadership.
It’s fair to say his comments have not aged well.
“We don’t do things that way, that’s a very left-wing thing,” he said.
“Only a socialist could do that to his brother, only a socialist could regard familial ties as being so trivial as to shaft his own brother…I mean, unbelievable. Only lefties can think like that…they see people as discrete agents devoid of ties to society or to each other, and that’s how Stalin could murder 20 million people.”
He went on to say it was “very likely” Jo would become Prime Minister one day, and that he would be “brilliant.”
In his resignation statement, Jo Johnson said he had been “torn between family loyalty and the national interest”.
Mr Johnson Jr, who had been a senior minister attending meetings of his brother’s Cabinet, said there was an “unresolvable tension”.
He announced on Twitter he was quitting his role as Universities Minister and would stand down as MP for Orpington.
Mr Johnson said: It’s been an honour to represent Orpington for 9 years & to serve as a minister under three PMs.
“In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national interest – it’s an unresolvable tension & time for others to take on my roles as MP & Minister. #overandout”
A Number 10 spokesman said Jo Johnson had been “a brilliant, talented minister and a fantastic MP”, and the Prime Minister “as both a politician and brother understands this will not have been an easy matter for Jo”.
