Boris Johnson has launched the Conservatives’ general election campaign amid chaos in his party’s ranks.
The prime minister confirmed he had visited the Queen and the monarch had agreed to dissolve parliament ahead of the snap poll on December 12.
Speaking outside Downing Street, Johnson said “we have no choice” but to have an election to “get Brexit done” as he pledged to take the fight to Jeremy Corbyn’s “dither and delay”.
“I’ve just been to see Her Majesty the Queen earlier on and she agreed to dissolve parliament for an election,” he said.
“And I want you to know of course that I don’t want an early election and no one much wants to have an election in December, but we’ve got to the stage where we have no choice because our parliament is paralysed, it’s been stuck in a rut for three and a half years.”
But it came just moments after his secretary of state for Wales, Alun Cairns, resigned over a leaked email which suggested he knew of a now-suspended candidate’s role in “sabotaging” a rape trial and as Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg faced calls to quit over his suggestion Grenfell victims lacked “common sense”.
Johnson, however, attempted to put Brexit back centre stage as he said his new deal “delivers everything that I wanted when I campaigned for Brexit”.
“If I come back with a working majority then I will get parliament working for you,” said Johnson as he vowed to “put delay behind us”.
He added it was “frankly mind-boggling” that MPs voted for his deal and then voted against the government’s timetable to debate it.
“And I’m afraid it is clear that if parliament had its way then this country would not be leaving even on January 31 and that, of course, is bad for democracy, it’s disastrous for trust in politics,” he said. “Why should MPs just decide that they can cancel the result of the referendum?”
Johnson said the only way to avoid the “nightmare” of Corbyn’s plan, is to vote for a “moderate and compassionate one-nation Conservative government”.
He added: “And we will make this country the greatest place to live, to raise a family, to start a business, to send your kids to school.”
Johnson walked straight back into Downing Street after delivering his eight-minute election statement without taking questions from waiting media.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, was in Telford where he spoke about his “different” style of leadership.
“Yes I believe leaders should have clear principles that people can trust, and the strength and commitment not to be driven off course. You have to stand for something,” he said.
“But leaders must also trust others to play their part. Think of it like this: a good leader doesn’t just barge through a door and let it swing back in the faces of those following behind.
“A good leader holds open the door that others may walk through in the future – because in our society everyone has a contribution to make.”
A leaked email to Cairns by his special advisor suggested he knew ex-staff member Ross England was involved in the collapse of rape proceedings in 2018.
England was said by judge Stephen Hopkins to have “single-handedly” and “deliberately” sabotaged the trial of his friend, James Hackett, after referring to the victim’s sexual history, it emerged last week. Hackett was convicted after a retrial in 2018.
The email, dated August 2 2018, leaked to the BBC, was sent to Cairns by his aide Geraint Evans, and was also copied to Richard Minshull, director of the Welsh Conservatives.
It said: “I have spoken to Ross and he is confident no action will be taken by the court.”
He resigned on Wednesday acknowledging that he will face an investigation for breaches of the ministerial code.
Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, meanwhile, faces demands to resign after he suggested that Grenfell victims lacked the “common sense” to ignore the London Fire Brigade’s “stay put” advice.
On Monday, the leader of the House of Commons told LBC more people would have survived the tragedy in June 2017 if they had chosen to “ignore” the London Fire Brigade’s advice to “stay put”.
“I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do. And it is such a tragedy that that didn’t happen,” he told radio host Nick Ferrari.
The cabinet minister – who is also the Conservative candidate for North East Somerset in the upcoming general election – has since apologised for his comments, saying he “would have also listened to the fire brigade’s advice to stay and wait at the time”.