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Johnson's premiership begins with wave of protests against him

The Etonian is now the third Tory PM to face Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in as many years

A STRING of protests have taken place today to oppose the inauguration of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

He is now the third Tory PM to face the opposition of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has seen off David Cameron and Theresa May in the space of three years.

Mr Johnson’s journey to his meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace was disrupted by Greenpeace climate change protesters who briefly blocked his car’s path.

Hours later thousands of protesters descend on central London for a “street festival protest” to reject his “election” by less than 1 per cent of the British population.

Organisers Fck Boris said: “A government responsible for the hostile environment, for Windrush, for Grenfell, for 130,000 austerity deaths, will be led by a man who described black people as ‘piccaninnies’ with ‘watermelon smiles’, compared Muslim women to ‘bank-robbers’ and ‘letterboxes’ and referred to gay men as ‘tank-topped bumboys’.

“We will be ready to greet him. We will be ready to reject him. And we will be ready to reject every single one of his cronies and everything they stand for.”

The Jewish Socialists’ Group also condemned Mr Johnson for his track record of “vile and obscene” comments and his “cosy relationship” with far-right anti-semites such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The group also condemned the Board of Deputies of British Jews for failing to mention this in its “gushing welcome” of Mr Johnson as PM and their claim to “speak for the entire Jewish community.”

The group said that it will campaign to replace the Tory government with a “Corbyn-led government committed to equality and social justice.”

Stand Up to Racism is also calling for supporters to donate to its crowdfund to step up the opposition to Mr Johnson’s “Trumpist agenda.”

Protests have also taken place in response to Mr Johnson saying he will take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal on October 31.

Unite the union representatives from Airbus, British Steel, BMW, GKN, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce protested outside Parliament and met MPs to warn what they called the “catastrophic” impact of a no-deal Brexit on jobs.

Shortly before Mr Johnson arrived at the palace Ms May had arrived to offer her resignation to the Queen.

One of Ms May’s final tasks as PM was to receive the resignations of Philip Hammond, David Gauke and Rory Stewart from their Cabinet roles over Mr Johnson’s takeover and his “do or die” Brexit pledge.

Her ineffective deputy prime minister David Lidington also announced that he was quitting government.

Mr Johnson was making changes to his cabinet as the Star went to press with Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Education Secretary Damian Hinds and Business Secretary Greg Clark all given the boot.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling resigned and was described by his Labour counterpart Andy McDonald as “the worst transport secretary of all time.”

The new PM is expected to offer the job of home secretary to Priti Patel, who resigned from Theresa May’s government after a string of unofficial meetings with Israeli businessmen and officials came to light, and give an advisory role to Vote Leave campaign director Dominic Cummings.

Mr Johnson also appointed his multimillionaire pal Andrew Griffiths as business adviser before he met the Queen.

Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said: “One of Boris Johnson’s first acts is to dish out a powerful job in Number 10 to his super-rich pal who lent him his luxurious house in Westminster for the Tory leadership campaign.
 
“The public would be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that Johnson’s friends can buy influence within the new administration.”

Mr Johnson has a working majority of just two. It could fall to one if the Tories lose the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election on August 1. 

Labour is to bring a motion of no-confidence against Mr Johnson before party conference season, shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner told LBC radio today.

Parliament rises in mid-September so the vote would have to take place in the first two weeks of the month.

Labour leader Mr Corbyn said yesterday that his party would table a motion of no-confidence in Mr Johnson “at a time of their choosing” that he added would be a “surprise” to the new PM.

Mr Corbyn reminded Ms May today, in her final session of Prime Minister’s Questions, of her policy failures and U-turns.

To a repeated chorus of “up” by Labour MPs he said that, since Ms May became PM in 2016, there have been rises in child poverty, in-work poverty, pensioner poverty, violent crime, NHS waiting times, pupil numbers in classes, homelessness and food bank use.

“The best thing for her successor to do is call a general election,” he said.

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