Top UK officials discussed seeking Queen's help amid No 10 'chaos' over Boris Johnson's behaviour

Senior UK government officials engaged in discussions with Buckingham Palace regarding their apprehensions about former prime minister Boris Johnson's behaviour while in office and even wanted late Queen Elizabeth to intervene, a documentary has claimed. The No 10, Downing Street officials discussed requesting the Queen to address these concerns with Johnson during their private meetings, according to the BBC documentary.

A source in the documentary reportedly said the former UK “had to be reminded of the constitution”.

While the specific actions of Boris Johnson that raised concerns remain unspecified, the documentary highlighted conflicts that occurred between Dominic Cummings, who served as Johnson's chief of staff at the beginning of his prime ministership, and Sir Mark Sedwill, the former head of the civil service.

Political turbulence

The discussions with Buckingham Palace reportedly occurred around May 2020, a period marked by both political upheaval in the UK following the Brexit vote and the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The documentary characterised the period as one of "significant tensions" between Johnson's political staff and the civil service.

It stated that communications between No. 10officials and Buckingham Palace went beyond routine matters to address these concerns.

One of the hopes among government officials was that Queen Elizabeth might bring up the matter during her private conversations with the then prime minister.

Toxic atmosphere in Downing Street

An unnamed source in the documentary described the atmosphere within Downing Street during that period as "utterly grim, and totally crazy."

Additionally, relationships between political officials and civil servants were depicted as "just toxic."

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The documentary also mentions that Buckingham Palace had expressed "acute concern" in the past when Boris Johnson forcibly suspended parliament in the summer of 2019. This suspension, carried out in the name of the queen, was subsequently deemed illegal.

Tensions following Johnson's COVID-19 hospitalisation

Helen MacNamara, the former deputy cabinet secretary and the second most senior civil servant in the government, acknowledged significant tensions following Boris Johnson's hospitalisation with COVID-19 early in the pandemic.

“There were definitely times after the prime minister came back from his illness when the kind of the perception amongst the political team at No 10 about the failings of the system and the failings of the civil service and the failings of different institutions, it was just so extreme the way that they were articulating that, they were in absolutely kind of smash everything up, shut it all down, start again … we were systematically in real trouble,” she said.

The UK media outlet reported that Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the matter.

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