Johnson`s finance and health secretaries quit on Tuesday, along with several in more junior roles, saying they could no longer stay in government after the latest in a series of scandals blighted his administration.
Zahawi told reporters he would look at all options to rebuild and grow the struggling economy and tame surging inflation, when asked if he would cut taxes such as corporation tax. Eleven British lawmakers have left Prime Minister Boris Johnson`s government in less than 24 hours, including finance minister Rishi Sunak, saying the British leader no longer has their confidence and plunging his government into crisis.
Johnson, a former journalist and London mayor who became the face of Britain`s departure from the European Union, won a landslide election victory in 2019 before taking a combative and often chaotic approach to governing.
His leadership has been mired in scandals and missteps over the last few months, with the prime minister fined by police for breaking COVID-19 lockdown laws and a damning report published about the behaviour of officials at his Downing Street office who breached their own lockdown rules.
There have also been policy U-turns, an ill-fated defence of a lawmaker who broke lobbying rules, and criticism that he has not done enough to tackle a cost-of-living crisis, with many Britons struggling to cope with rising fuel and food prices.
The latest bout of drama at the heart of British power comes as the economy deteriorates rapidly, with some economists warning that the country could tip into recession.