FOLLOWING an "avalanche" of resignations by senior government aides, Boris Johnson quoted the Lion King in a speech to Downing Street staff.
The Prime Minister told No 10 staff that "change is good" after five advisers announced their resignations within 24 hours.
News of the departure of Elena Narozanski, a special adviser in the No 10 policy unit, followed four other aides resigning within hours on Thursday night.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson's Downing Street crisis deepens as FIFTH aide quits
It has been confirmed that in a speech that Johnson referred to as a "half-time pep talk" for his Downing Street team, the PM quoted Rafiki, the mandrill shaman from the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King.
Johnson's official spokesman confirmed that the PM said: "As Rafiki in the Lion King says, change is good, and change is necessary even though it's tough."
When asked if Johnson had watched the Lion King, the PM's spokesman said: "I don't know."
The departure of Narozanski followed Johnson’s chief of staff, principal private secretary, director of communications, and policy chief all quit on Thursday.
Long-time Johnson supporter and adviser Munira Mirza was the first to go, followed by Martin Reynolds, Jack Doyle, and Dan Rosenfield in quick succession.
Downing Street has said that the departures of Rosenfield, Reynolds and Doyle had been confirmed before Mirza quit on Thursday.
However, when asked if the same applied to Narozanski, the PM's spokesman said: “No, I don’t believe so.”
READ MORE: Who is Munira Mirza, the Boris Johnson ally who just resigned?
The SNP have said that the resignations show Johnson's "inner circle is disintegrating before our eyes", underlining the fact that his position is "completely untenable".
SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald MP said: "Boris Johnson's inner circle is disintegrating before our eyes, in an avalanche of resignations - revealing the utter chaos at the centre of the Tory government.
"Whether the Prime Minister's top team is quitting in protest at his lies, or being forced out for breaking the rules, it only underlines the fact that Mr Johnson's position is completely untenable.
"If even Downing Street staff no longer have faith in the Prime Minister, then clearly he must go. And if staff can't get away with rule-breaking, then neither should he. We know Boris Johnson broke the rules, lied about it and misled Parliament. Tory MPs must finally show him the door."
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I don’t know when they last spoke, they speak almost daily, but I don’t know the exact last time.”
Asked how relations are between No 10 and No 11, he said: “Good – they agreed to a cost-of-living package that the Chancellor set out yesterday.”
READ MORE: Keir Starmer, Jimmy Savile, and the Tories' 'move towards disinformation'
It follows Sunak saying that he "wouldn't have said" the PM's comments concerning the non-prosecution of Jimmy Savile in relation to Labour leader Keir Starmer's time at the Crown Prosecution Service.
The comments, and fallout, were the reason that sparked Mirza's departure from the No 10 team, according to her official statement.
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