Defiant UK PM Johnson vows to 'keep going'

London: A defiant British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday vowed to "keep going" as he appeared before a hostile crowd of parliamentarians, not only from the Opposition benches but from within his own Conservative Party, just hours after the big blow of losing his Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid in quick succession.

Johnson, 58, appeared at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons amidst mounting pressure on him to resign over the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by a member of his government.

A flurry of junior ministerial and government aide resignations, totalling 18, continues to hit the embattled leader even as Javid made a speech in the Commons calling upon his former Cabinet colleagues to reconsider their decision to continue to back Johnson because "enough is enough".

"The job of a Prime Minister in difficult circumstances, when you've been handed a colossal mandate, is to keep going, and that's what I am going to do," said a defiant Johnson, in response to repeated demands for him to quit.

"It's exactly when times are tough, that when the country faces pressures on the economy and pressures on their budgets and when we have the biggest war in Europe for 80 years, that is exactly the moment that you'd expect a government to continue with its work, not to walk away, and to get on with the job," he said. Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer attacked Johnson over his handling of the latest scandal to hit Downing Street, reading out the accusations levelled at his disgraced former Deputy Chief Whip as a "reminder to all those propping up this Prime Minister just how serious the situation is".

In fiery exchanges at PMQs, the Labour leader said the list of resignations had left him with a "Z list cast of nodding dogs" on his frontbench, adding the "sinking ships are fleeing the rat".

Several on the Conservative benches also piled the pressure, with former Brexit minister David Davis, who had told Johnson in the name of God, go just six months ago, reiterated his demand: "Do the honourable thing [and] put the interests of the nation before his own interests and before, in his own words, it does become impossible for government to

do its job."