oris Johnson quoted from The Lion King, insisting “change is sweet”, as he sought to maintain employees onside after No 10 was rocked by 5 resignations.
The Prime Minister channelled the thinker monkey Rafiki within the Disney movie as he tried to spice up morale in a speech to aides on Friday morning.
Downing Road mentioned Mr Johnson acknowledges the “difficult” scenario after the resignation of one in every of his longest-serving advisers, Munira Mirza.
She give up in anger over his use of a false Jimmy Savile smear towards Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer whereas beneath stress over allegations of lockdown breaches in No 10.
As Rafiki in The Lion King says, change is sweet, and alter is important despite the fact that it is powerful
Chief of employees Dan Rosenfield adopted, as did principal non-public secretary Martin Reynolds and communications director Jack Doyle, who had been all implicated within the partygate scandal.
The exodus continued on Friday when coverage adviser Elena Narozanski give up, additional including to the turmoil as Mr Johnson clings onto energy.
Talking to employees within the Cupboard Room as others tuned in on Zoom, the Prime Minister mentioned: “As Rafiki in The Lion King says, change is sweet, and alter is important despite the fact that it’s powerful.”
Rafiki’s quote comes from a scene in The Lion King after predominant character Simba flees his pleasure following his father’s demise, orchestrated by his evil uncle Scar, with the mandrill convincing Simba to return and take his rightful place as king.
Requested if Mr Johnson has seen the movie, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman mentioned: “I don’t know.”
Mr Johnson was additionally mentioned to have given his acquainted “half-time pep discuss” during which he talks about spitting out the “orange peel” and getting again on the “pitch”.
He delivered that very same message to his Cupboard in September final yr after finishing up a ruthless cull of his prime staff.
Talking to journalists, his official spokesman mentioned: “The Prime Minister has acknowledged it’s a difficult time as we undergo a interval of change however as he reiterated to the entire staff at the moment, there is a crucial job to do, the general public expects us to be targeted on it, whether or not it’s the scenario in Ukraine, recovering from the pandemic or, because the Chancellor was setting out yesterday, on points comparable to value of residing.”
