All the times Britain has changed its prime minister during a war | indy100

Renewed calls for Boris Johnson to resign after being fined for lockdown ...

Independent

After news emerged that Boris Johnson has become the first sitting prime minister to be sanctioned by the police for breaking the law in office, many including the Labour party called for him to resign.

Johnson was fined £50 by the police over being "ambushed with a cake" in his office in June 2020 during a lockdown which prohibited people from different households mixing for social arrangements.

So there were people who said he should resign but also people who said he shouldn't because of the war in Ukraine. Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Ross, who had previously called for Johnson to resign over Partygate, said forcing him to quit would “destabilise the UK government when we need to be united in the face of Russian aggression and the murdering of innocent Ukrainians”.

Meanwhile, Sir Roger Gale also signalled it was the wrong time to go due to the war in Ukraine, tweeting:

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We are facing the most serious international crisis since 1945. Now is absolutely not the moment to give the war criminal Putin the comfort of de-stabilising the Government of the country that, with the United States, is leading the coalition in support of Ukraine. 1/3
— Sir Roger Gale MP (@Sir Roger Gale MP) 1649776412

And Jacob Rees-Mogg said:

This ought to close this matter. There is a war on and the Prime Minister, supported by the Chancellor, provides the leadership the nation needs.https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1513927959240970240\u00a0\u2026
— Jacob Rees-Mogg (@Jacob Rees-Mogg) 1649790894

Is it a fair point? Perhaps, but consider how many times the UK changed the prime minister during wars. Historian Dan Snow summed up how often this has happened back in January:

-Grenville replaced Pitt who died weeks after Napoleon's triumph at Austerlitz\n\n-Newcastle replaced Pitt/Devonshire in summer 1757 when the WHEELS WERE TOTALLY falling off in the Seven Years War. The King's son was busy humiliating himself on the continent. \n\nIt's the norm, folks
— Dan Snow (@Dan Snow) 1643139471

And take a look at times Britain changed its leader during conflicts it wasn't directly involved in, as is the case with Ukraine presently.

The changed PM \nfour times in the war in Afghanistan\nin the Iraq War\nin the Gulf War \nin the Korean War\nin the Second World War \nin the First World War \nin the Second Boer War \nin the Second Opium War\nin the Crimean War \ntwice in the Peninsular War
— Chris Bryant (@Chris Bryant) 1649780442

Maybe Johnson could go after all...

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

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