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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Samantha Lock (now) , Nadeem Badshah and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)

Nadhim Zahawi becomes chancellor and Steve Barclay health secretary, replacing Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid – as it happened

Boris Johnson Chris Pincher Simon McDonald No 10 Foreign Office Downing Street (Organization)
Zahawi, Barclay, Sunak, Javid
Nadhim Zahawi and Steve Barclay are appointed chancellor and health secretary respectively, replacing Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid who have resigned from their roles. Composite: Getty Images/AFP/EPA

Summary

Boris Johnson has been dealt the biggest blow of his premiership by the resignations of two senior cabinet ministers in the wake of his handling of the row over former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.

Nadhim Zahawi and Steve Barclay have since replaced Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid as chancellor and health secretary.

Here are all the other developments you may have missed:

  • Chancellor Rishi Sunak, health secretary Sajid Javid, four parliamentary private secretaries, the Conservative vice-chair, two trade envoys and the solicitor general all resigned on Tuesday evening.
  • Sajid Javid triggered the exodus, resigning as health secretary, followed a few minutes later by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak. Javid said: “I regret that I can no longer continue in good conscience,” while Sunak said the government should be run “properly, competently and seriously”. It appears likely the resignations of Javid and Sunak were coordinated. Most of the remaining members of the cabinet expressed support for Johnson to continue as PM. Johnson told Javid he was “sorry” to receive his resignation letter.
  • Education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, was appointed as the new chancellor. Zahawi made no comment when asked by press if he would “spray public money around to save Boris Johnson’s skin” before leaving in a ministerial car.
  • Steve Barclay was announced as the new health secretary. The former Brexit secretary said it was “an honour” to take up the role. “Our NHS and social care staff have showed us time and again – throughout the pandemic and beyond – what it means to work with compassion and dedication to transform lives.
  • Michelle Donelan was appointed the new education secretary after just two years as a minister, rewarded for her loyalty and her embrace of the culture wars and curbing of universities that have been a hallmark of Boris Johnson’s administration.
  • Bim Afolami MP announced his resignation as Tory vice-chair live on TalkTV.
  • Jonathan Gullis, Virginia Crosbie, Nicola Richards and Saqib Bhatti MP all resigned as parliamentary private secretaries while Alex Chalk resigned as solicitor general. Stafford MP, Theo Clarke, also resigned as trade envoy to Kenya.
  • Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said it’s “clear the government is now collapsing”. Starmer said government ministers have been “complicit” in the prime minister’s disgracing of his office. “They backed him when he lied. They backed him when he mocked the sacrifices of the British people,” he told reporters.
  • A snap poll by YouGov this evening found that 69% of Britons say Boris Johnson should resign. This is 11pts higher than when the pollsters asked the same question on 9 June.
  • Under current rules Johnson is safe from another leadership challenge until next summer. But the executive of the 1922 Committee can change the rules whenever it wants. A new anti-Johnson executive is expected to be elected next week, but even the current executive – more evenly split between loyalists and critics – could act now if it felt there was a consensus in the party.

Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips, has offered some sage advice this evening.

“I’m going to bed and you should too, because the absolute nonsense will still very much be happening in the morning,” Phillips quipped.

Former Foreign Secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, also believes Boris Johnson is on his way out.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Rifkind said:

He’s out - the only question is whether it will take hours, days or a week or so.

I think he first became vulnerable the day he became prime minister. It was a terrible decision ... he was totally unfit to be prime minister ... It was an enormous gamble and one that shouldn’t have been taken.”

The former Scotland Secretary added: “Pretty well the whole country thinks he is a loser.”

“The antipathy to Boris Johnson in Scotland is now matched by an equal antipathy to Boris Johnson in England and Wales as well...”

Updated

Ex-Scottish Conservatives leader, Ruth Davidson, has also weighed in on the fallout, describing Boris Johnson as “ill-equipped” to be prime minister.

“This is clearly coming to the end game,” Davison told BBC Newsnight.

[MPs] can either decide that it’s going to end slowly, torturously, drawn out, with rebellion after rebellion ... or they can move to change the rules of the ‘22 [committee] bring this to a head, make sure that the prime minister leaves ...”

Andrew Mitchell, a former Conservative chief whip, has compared Boris Johnson to Russia’s Rasputin.

The Conservative MP told BBC Newsnight:

It’s a bit like the death of Rasputin. He’s been poisoned, stabbed, he’s been shot, his body’s been dumped in the freezing river and still he lives.”

Mitchell added that he believes it is “over” for the prime minister.

Well I’m afraid it is over and the question now is how much longer this is going to go on.”

“This is an abnormal prime minister - brilliantly charismatic, very funny, very amusing, big, big character, but I’m afraid he has neither the character, nor the temperament to be our prime minister.”

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said government ministers have been ‘complicit’ in the prime minister’s disgracing of his office.

“They backed him when he lied. They backed him when he mocked the sacrifices of the British people,” he told reporters earlier today.

Watch Starmer’s remarks in the video below.

A summary of today's developments

  • On a bruising day for Boris Johnson, the chancellor, the health secretary, four parliamentary private secretaries, the Conservative vice-chair, two trade envoys and the solicitor general all resigned this evening.
  • Sajid Javid triggered the exodus, resigning as health secretary, followed a few minutes later by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak. Javid said: “I regret that I can no longer continue in good conscience,” while Sunak said the government should be run “properly, competently and seriously”. Most of the remaining members of the cabinet expressed support for Johnson to continue as PM.
  • Nadhim Zahawi was appointed as the new chancellor. Steve Barclay was announced as the new health secretary, while Michelle Donelan was appointed the new education secretary.
  • Bim Afolami MP announced his resignation as Tory vice-chair live on TalkTV.
  • Jonathan Gullis, Virginia Crosbie, Nicola Richards and Saqib Bhatti MP all resigned as parliamentary private secretaries while Alex Chalk resigned as solicitor general.
  • A snap poll by YouGov this evening found that 69% of Britons say Boris Johnson should resign. This is 11pts higher than when the pollsters asked the same question on 9 June.

Updated

Michelle Donelan takes over from Nadhim Zahawi as education secretary after just two years as a minister, rewarded for her loyalty and her embrace of the culture wars and curbing of universities that have been a hallmark of Boris Johnson’s administration.

Moving up from her current role of higher and further education minister, Donelan will have to quickly take charge of a mess of unfinished business left by Zahawi in his brief 10-month tenure, most notably the schools bill that last week the new chancellor was forced to gut after opposition from former ministers and supporters in the Lords.

But Donelan has impressed those who work with her for her no-nonsense attitude, and as someone who – unlike Zahawi or Johnson – isn’t interested in the trappings of office or making friends.

The new chancellor of the exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, in his office at No 11 Downing Street.
The new chancellor of the exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, in his office at No 11 Downing Street. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/No10 Downing Street

Updated

Boris Johnson appoints Nadhim Zahawi as the chancellor of the exchequer in the Cabinet Room of No 10 Downing Street.
Boris Johnson appoints Nadhim Zahawi as the chancellor of the exchequer in the Cabinet Room of No 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/No10 Downing Street

Updated

Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, a former chief whip, has compared Boris Johnson with Rasputin.

“It’s a bit like the death of Rasputin. He’s been poisoned, stabbed, he’s been shot, his body’s been dumped in the freezing river and still he lives,” Mitchell told BBC Newsnight.

He was also adamant that it was “over” for the prime minister.

“This is an abnormal prime minister - brilliantly charismatic, very funny, very amusing, big, big character, but I’m afraid he has neither the character nor the temperament to be our prime minister.”

Updated

Tory backbencher Andrew Bridgen has warned Boris Johnson that the backbench 1922 Committee will “deal” with his leadership.

Bridgen said: “The portcullis is the emblem of our parliament, it is the last defence of our democracy.

“The 1922 committee will deal with this turbulent prime minister, it’s what it was created for.”

Johnson is facing manoeuvring from Conservative MPs, who are hoping to change the rules of the 1922 Committee to re-run a confidence vote against him.

Updated

Alex Chalk resigns as solicitor general

Alex Chalk MP has resigned as solicitor general.

Steve Barclay said it was “an honour” to take up the role of health secretary, replacing Sajid Javid who resigned earlier this evening.

Barclay said: “Our NHS and social care staff have showed us time and again – throughout the pandemic and beyond – what it means to work with compassion and dedication to transform lives.

“This government is investing more than ever before in our NHS and care services to beat the Covid backlogs, recruit 50,000 more nurses, reform social care and ensure patients across the country can access the care they need.”

Updated

Stafford MP Theo Clarke has resigned as trade envoy to Kenya, telling Boris Johnson in a letter he showed a “severe lack of judgment” over appointing Chris Pincher deputy chief whip.

She wrote: “As a loyal member of the Conservative Party, I have always supported this Government, and I have supported you personally over the past few years, including campaigning for you in both of your London mayoral campaigns. However, I no longer have confidence in your leadership.

“As one of the Party’s new female MPs and a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, I take allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously.

To learn that you chose to elevate a colleague to a position of pastoral care for MPs, whilst in full knowledge of his own wrongdoing, shows a severe lack of judgment and care for your Parliamentary party. I was shocked to see colleagues defending the Government with assurances that have turned out to be false. This is not the way that any responsible Government should act.

“It is our hard-working volunteers and local councillors who ultimately take the fury from the public and often end up paying the price for these failures of leadership.

“I think that we need to draw a line under the current debacle and get a grip on Government on the public’s behalf, as well as, most importantly, the country.”

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has accused the new chancellor of acting in his own interest.
The Labour MP tweeted on Tuesday evening, after the appointment of Nadhim Zahawi as chancellor, that the cabinet was propping up a “failing prime minister”.

Updated

New chancellor Nadhim Zahawi made no comment when asked by press if he would “spray public money around to save Boris Johnson’s skin” before leaving in a ministerial car.

A snap poll by YouGov this evening found that 69% of Britons say Boris Johnson should resign.
This is 11pts higher than when the pollsters asked the same question on 9 June. The proportion who say Johnson should resign tonight includes a majority (54%) of 2019 Conservative voters. Overall among Britons just 18% say that Johnson should remain in his role, rising to a third (33%) of 2019 Conservative voters.

Updated

Michelle Donelan becomes new education secretary

Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, has been appointed the new education secretary, Downing Street said.

She succeeds Nadhim Zahawi, who is to become the new chancellor following Rishi Sunak’s resignation.

Updated

Nadhim Zahawi appointed chancellor

Nadhim Zahawi has been announced as the new chancellor, replacing Rishi Sunak who resigned earlier this evening.

Updated

Boris Johnson told Sajid Javid he was “sorry” to receive his resignation letter as health secretary.

In a brief letter, the prime minister wrote: “Dear Saj, Thank you for your letter this evening tendering your resignation. I was very sorry to receive it.

“You have served this Government, and the people of the United Kingdom, with distinction.”

Johnson noted Javid’s work to tackle Covid backlogs and other plans for the health service, and vowed that “the Government will continue to deliver on them”.

“You will be greatly missed, and I look forward to your contribution from the backbenches,” he concluded.

Updated

Here is a timeline of the recent political crises that have engulfed the prime minister’s leadership.

April 2 2022
David Warburton, the MP for Somerton and Frome, had the Conservative whip withdrawn after allegations of sexual harassment and cocaine use emerged.


April 11 2022
Imran Ahmad Khan, the then-Tory MP for Wakefield, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008.
Khan, who maintains his innocence, was expelled from the Conservativeparty and resigned, triggering a by-election that Labour won in June. Khan was jailed for 18 months in May.


April 12 2022
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were fined for attending the prime minister’s birthday bash in Downing Street in June 2020, as part of a Metropolitan police probe into alleged parties at the heart of the government during the pandemic.
Johnson offered a “full apology” as opposition parties characterised him as the first prime minister to have been found to be in breach of the law.


April 21 2022
Johnson faced the prospect of a parliamentary investigation after MPs agreed to refer him over claims he lied to parliament about Downing Street parties during lockdowns.


May 4 2022
Neil Parish quit his seat in Tiverton and Honiton after admitting watching pornography in the Commons.
Tiverton and Honiton was snatched by the Liberal Democrats in a June byelection, overturning a Conservative majority of more than 24,000.


May 17 2022
An unnamed Conservative MP was arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault offences spanning seven years. Tory chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris urged the MP to stay away from parliament but did not suspend the whip.


May 25 2022
Sue Gray published her full report into lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and Whitehall, detailing events at which officials drank so much they were sick, sang karaoke, became involved in altercations and abused security and cleaning staff at a time when millions of people across the country were unable to see friends and family.

June 6 2022
The government’s anti-corruption tsar resigned from his post and called on the prime minister to do the same, accusing him of breaking the ministerial code.
John Penrose, Conservative MP for Weston-super-Mare, said Johnson had failed to address the Sue Gray report’s “very serious criticisms” of the leadership at 10 Downing Street.

June 6 2022
Johnson’s authority was damaged by a confidence vote which saw 41% of his MPs try to oust him. He insisted he had secured a “decisive” victory as Tory MPs voted by 211 to 148 in support of him, but the scale of the revolt left him wounded.

June 15 2022
Lord Geidt resigned as ethics adviser a day after telling MPs it was “reasonable” to suggest the prime minister broke the ministerial code by breaching lockdown laws.


June 24 2022
Defeat in two crunch by-elections and the subsequent surprise resignation of the Conservative party co-chairman pitched Johnson’s leadership into a fresh crisis.
Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden said he and Tory supporters were “distressed and disappointed by recent events” and told the prime minister that “someone must take responsibility”.


June 30 2022
Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip after allegedly assaulting two fellow guests the evening before at the Carlton Club.
Downing Street said Johnson was not aware of any “specific allegations” about Pincher when he appointed him to the whips office, but it emerged over the following days that he was told about allegations against him as far back as 2019.

Updated

Steve Barclay confirmed as new health secretary

Boris Johnson has appointed his chief of staff Steve Barclay as health secretary following Sajid Javid’s resignation.

Virginia Crosbie has announced she is resigning as parliamentary private secretary to the Wales Office.

Updated

Boris Johnson’s response to Rishi Sunak’s resignation as chancellor.

Updated

Conservative MP Jo Gideon has reiterated her stance that the prime minister should resign.

Steve Barclay 'to be appointed new health secretary'

Boris Johnson’s chief of staff Steve Barclay is “believed” to have been appointed health secretary following Sajid Javid’s resignation earlier this evening but is awaiting official confirmation.

Updated

Universities minister Michelle Donelan entered No 10 shortly after Nadhim Zahawi.

She did not make any comment as she walked into Downing Street.

Updated

Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said in a statement: “Boris Johnson’s days are numbered. He’ll be dragged kicking and screaming out of Number 10 as Cabinet Ministers one-by-one find a backbone. But it is now an inevitability.
“The chaos that has consumed Westminster for years is utterly unsustainable. People are fed up of politicians who treat their lives as a game, who obsess about personalities and theatre rather than principles and vision. “Wales have never given the Tories a majority in our country. But even if Johnson goes, the same arrogance will continue to control and command. “We in Wales are taking steps to strengthen and modernise our democracy in stark contrast to the Westminster circus. It’s time to do better with independence.”

Updated

The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has been spotted entering No 10 Downing Street this evening.

Zahawi has yet to publicly show his hand over whether he backs the prime minister.

Updated

Nicola Richards MP has also resigned as parliamentary private secretary to the Department of Transport.

Updated

The Tory MP for Hastings and Rye, Sally-Ann Hart, who previously backed Boris Johnson in June’s confidence vote, said she is no longer able to support the prime minister.

Updated

Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns gave his ‘ongoing and full support’ to Boris Johnson from the floor of the House of Commons.

Speaking at the dispatch box while responding to an adjournment debate on issues relating to the Northern Ireland assembly and executive, Burns said: “When the prime minister asked me to serve as minister of state in the Northern Ireland Office last September I became only the second minister in the 50-year history of the Northern Ireland Office to serve who is from Northern Ireland.

“And as someone who is a Catholic, a supporter of the union, from Belfast, I feel passionately about Northern Ireland and her wonderful people.

“And I express tonight my enduring gratitude to the prime minister for that opportunity to serve.

“And as has often been said in the past, the best way to keep a secret is to say something on the floor of the House of Commons, so from this dispatch box tonight I use this opportunity to express my ongoing and full support to my right honourable friend the prime minister as he helps us move to a position where we restore the power-sharing institutions that the people of Northern Ireland need so much.”

Updated

My colleague Jessica Elgot’s take on the significance of Jonathan Gullis’s resignation:

Work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey is not resigning from Boris Johnson’s cabinet, a source told PA.

Updated

Two PPSs resign

Saqib Bhatti MP has also announced he has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary, the second so far following that of Jonathan Gullis:

Updated

Jonathan Gullis, who is understood to have been a Johnson loyalist, has resigned his role as parliamentary private secretary to the Northern Ireland secretary.

Updated

Continuing to call for the prime minister to resign, Conservative MP for North Thanet Sir Roger Gale told Sky News: “I have said for several days now that I believe that we should not change the rules in the middle of the game and that the 1922 Committee rules should remain as they are.

But I’m afraid that this letter from Lord McDonald changes that picture completely.

“If the prime minister still refuses to go without the confidence of the backbench of his party, without the confidence, clearly, of significant members of his cabinet, if that is not enough to persuade him that the time has come for him to step aside, then the 1922 Committee, the backbench, is going to have to do it for him.”

Updated

Conservative MP Anthony Browne has reiterated his stance that he has “lost confidence” in Johnson.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has confirmed he will continue to back Boris Johnson as prime minister.

The Brexit opportunities minister told Sky News: “The Prime Minister won a large mandate in a general election, a vote of the British people and that should not be taken away from him because a number of people resign.”

Updated

Conservative vice-chair resigns live on TV

Bin Afolami MP has announced his resignation on TalkTV.

He said: “I don’t think the prime minister no longer has not just my support, but the party and the country.

“And for that reason I think he should step down.”

On his own position, he said: “You have to resign, I can’t serve under the prime minister.”

Updated

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said “the whole rotten lot” in Boris Johnson’s government should go.

Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, said he backs Boris Johnson remaining in Downing Street.

Jack MP said: “I fully support the prime minister. I am sorry to see good colleagues resign, but we have a big job of work to do, and that’s what we’re getting on with.”

Updated

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has reaffirmed her “100%!” support for Johnson.

Updated

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, said: “Boris Johnson has got to go, his government of chaos has failed our country.

“Families and pensioners are facing a cost of living crisis with no chancellor, and a healthcare crisis with no health secretary.

“While these crises have ripped through our country the cabinet have spent months trying to save Boris Johnson’s skin.”

Updated

ITV’s Paul Brand has tweeted that Michael Gove is expected to stay as secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities.

More cabinet ministers will resign and the prime minister “will be shown the door”, according to Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen.
Speaking to the PA news agency, the MP for North West Leicestershire said: “I guess they (Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid) finally got where much of the party got weeks if not months ago, that we just can’t carry on like this. What a shambles. It has been a shambles.”

When asked what he thinks prompted Javid and Sunak to resign, Mr Bridgen said: “The Pincher situation and the prime minister shown to have been lying again.”
On whether he thinks Johnson will resign, the Tory MP said “he will be shown the door” and claimed more cabinet ministers will resign.

Updated

Andrew Murrison MP has announced on Twitter that he has resigned as a trade envoy.

Current state of play in the Cabinet

GONE
Rishi Sunak
Sajid Javid

STAYING
Dominic Raab
Liz Truss
Brandon Lewis
Priti Patel
Kwasi Kwarteng
Nadine Dorries
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Anne Marie-Trevelyan
Simon Hart
Ben Wallace
Chris Heaton Harris
Alistair Jack

SILENT
Michael Gove
Nadhim Zahawi
Therese Coffey
Penny Mordaunt
George Eustice
Grant Shapps

Updated

Lord Frost, who resigned from the UK government as Brexit minister last year, has tweeted his reaction.

Dominic Raab and Priti Patel not expected to follow suit and resign

The Deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, and the home secretary, Priti Patel, are not expected to resign.

A source close to Raab told PA he was “loyal” to Johnson, while an ally of Patel said “she’s staying”.

Updated

Sir Keir Starmer said “it’s clear that this government is now collapsing” and said cabinet ministers who have resigned have been “complicit” as the prime minister “disgraced his office”.

The Labour leader said: “After all the sleaze, the scandals and the failure, it’s clear that this government is now collapsing. Tory cabinet ministers have known all along who this prime minister is.

They have been his cheerleaders throughout this sorry saga:

– backing him when he broke the law
– backing him when he lied repeatedly
– backing him when he mocked the sacrifices of the British people.

“In doing so, they have been complicit every step of the way as he has disgraced his office and let down his country. If they had a shred of integrity they would have gone months ago.

“The British public will not be fooled. The Tory party is corrupted and changing one man won’t fix that.

“Only a real change of government can give Britain the fresh start it needs.”

Updated

Johnson says he wanted to give Chris Pincher chance 'to prove he could do better'

Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s pooled TV clip (which is already old news, I’m afraid).

  • Johnson apologised for appointing Chris Pincher to his government. He gave Pincher two ministerial jobs before making him deputy chief whip in February. Asked if that was a grave mistake, Johnson replied:

Yes, I think it was a mistake and I apologise for it. I think, in hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do. I apologise to everybody who’s been badly affected by it. I just want to make absolutely clear that there’s no place in this government for anybody who is predatory or who abuses their position of power.

  • Johnson did not deny once calling the MP “Pincher by name, pincher by nature”.
  • Johnson said that, if he had the chance again, he would have sacked Pincher following the inappropriate incident when he was in the Foreign Office. He said:

About three years ago, there was a complaint made against Chris Pincher in the Foreign Office. The complaint was cleared up, he apologised, it was raised with me. Already I was briefed on what had happened. And, you know, if I had my time again I would think back on it and recognise that he wasn’t going to learn anything and he wasn’t going to change and I regret that.

  • Johnson rejected claims he asked his press office to lie on his behalf about what he knew about the Pincher allegations. When this was put to him, Johnson replied:

No, and let me explain what happened. So this is the ... we’re talking about a series of events, or a series of appointments over several years. So Chris Pincher came into government a deputy chief whip before I became prime minister, he was moved to the Foreign Office. He then went on to be a minister for housing. And we then moved him back to be deputy chief whip.

As I say, about two and a half years ago I got this complaint. It was something that was only raised with me very cursorily. But I wish that we had – I, in particular – had acted on it, and that he had not continued in government, because he then went on, I’m afraid, to behave – as far as we can see, according to the allegations that we have – very, very badly and I’m sorry for those who’ve been badly affected by it.

When it was put to Johnson that his office said he was not aware of specific allegations about Pincher, when he was told about the 2019 one, Johnson said he forgot he had been told about that. He said:

I was, I’m afraid, focusing on other things at the time. But what I’m telling you now is my recollection of events. And my recollection is that there was one complaint that was raised with me specifically [the one discussed with him in 2019, which he said was “resolved”. Others were just rumours, he said.]

  • Johnson said he wanted to give Pincher a second chance. He said:

What I wanted was to give Chris Pincher, if not the benefit of the doubt, then the ability to prove that he could do better. And I’m afraid that he couldn’t. And I feel very, very bitterly disappointed and also sorry for the mistake I made.

  • He insisted people could trust him. When he was asked if people could trust him, he replied:

Of course they can. I’m telling you exactly what happened. And I’m coming out to explain it. Because I’m fed up with people, if I may say so saying things on my behalf or trying to say.

That’s all from me for tonight. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is taking over now.

Updated

An ally of Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, viewed as a potential leadership candidate, said she was “100% behind the PM”, PA Media reports.

These are from Sky’s Sam Coates on ministers who won’t be resigning.

Javid/Sunak resignations - snap analysis

It could all be over for Boris Johnson - although quite how long it will take his enemies to finish him off is not at all clear and his defenestration does not look immediate. The two byelection defeats almost two weeks ago prompted calls for cabinet ministers to mount a coup against Boris Johnson, and it finally it seems to be happening.

We have not had confirmation yet, but it is impossible to believe that the resignations of Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak were not coordinated. Perhaps there are more to come.

The Sunak resignation is the most serious of the two. Since the spring statement, the chancellor has not been the obvious heir apparent he once was. But he is still a powerful figure in the party. The resignation of Nigel Lawson helped to bring down Margaret Thatcher, although it took just over a year for that to eventually play out.

Even if there are no more resignations, the mood in the Conservative party has already turned against Johnson – perhaps decisively.

Under current rules Johnson is safe from another leadership challenge until next summer. But the executive of the 1922 Committee can change the rules whenever it wants. A new anti-Johnson executive is expected to be elected next week, but even the current executive – more evently split between loyalists and critics – could act now if it felt there was a consensus in the party.

Johnson is famously stubborn, and he is unlikely to quit just because two ministers have decided to go. But increasingly Conservative MPs believe they have no chance of winning the next election under his leadership. Ultimately that assessment should prove decisive.

Updated

Sunak resigns as chancellor, saying government should be run 'properly, competently and seriously'

And Rishi Sunak has resigned as chancellor too, saying the government should be run “properly, competently and seriously”.

Sajid Javid resigns as health secretary, saying UK needs 'strong and principled Conservative party'

Sajid Javid has resigned as health secretary, saying the country needs a “strong and principled Conservative party”.

Updated

Johnson apologises for making Chris Pincher deputy chief whip

The clip is being broadcast now on Sky News and BBC News.

Boris Johnson apologises for appointing Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip.

Q: Did you once call him ‘Pincher by name, pincher by nature’?

Johnson says he was told about the complaint about Pincher when he was at the Foreign Office.

If he had his time again, he would accept that Pincher would not change.

Q: Did you lie to your staff about what you knew about Pincher?

No, says Johnson.

He says Pincher was in government before he was PM.

He says the 2019 complaint was only raised with him cursorily.

Pincher went on to behave “very badly”, he says.

And that seems to be it. The clip is over.

Updated

Boris Johnson to respond to latest Chris Pincher revelations

Boris Johnson has recorded a clip giving his response to the latest Chris Pincher revelations which is due to be broadcast at 6pm.

These are from the Times’ Henry Zeffman.

From the Daily Mail’s John Stevens

These are from the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges.

Former schools minister Nick Gibb urges cabinet minsters to oust Johnson

Nick Gibb, the Conservative former schools minister, told Radio 4’s PM programme that Tory MPs cannot now trust No 10 to take decisions for the right reasons. They fear No 10 is just acting to shore up support for the PM. That was not “a sustainable way of running a government”, he said. He went on:

We’ve got 40% of Conservative MPs who voted that they didn’t have confidence in prime minister four weeks ago. Any other leader would have resigned by now with that level of opposition to them in their own party.

And I think really, as I said in my article in the Telegraph this morning, it’s now for members of the cabinet, either collectively or individually, to make sure that that response to that vote does result in the resignation of the prime minister.

Gibb voted against Johnson in the last no confidence ballot.

UPDATE: Gibb also said his party had to get rid of the “rot in our political system”.

Updated

The Sun’s Harry Cole says there is talk of two ministers resigning tonight.

Cole does not say who his sources are. They could be Quince and Freer. But it is also the case that when No 10 fears people are about to resign, they sometimes brief out the names in the hope of bouncing the potential dissidents into expressions of loyalty.

Boris Johnson has been in the Commons tearoom today speaking to Tory MPs. Simon Hoare, the Conservative chair of the Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee, says it is too late for him to promise to change his ways.

The Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall is urging cabinet ministers to mount a coup against Boris Johnson. Mangnall, MP for Totnes, voted against Johnson in the no confidence ballot.

There were a lot of Tories making similar appeals just after the two byelections defeats in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton. They were ignored, but this time the mood is more ominous for the PM.

Boris Johnson is recording a pooled TV interview, Sky’s Sam Coates reports.

Minister prompts laughter in House of Lords as he tells them of 'robust system for upholding public standards'

The statement that Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister, read out to MPs as he answered the urgent question about standards in public life was particularly pompous and circumlocutionary. “We are fortunate in this country to have a sophisticated and robust system for upholding public standards,” Ellis told MPs. “That system is multi-faceted; it is made up of interlocking and complementary elements.” You can read the rest of it in its glory on the Hansard website.

After an urgent question in the Commons, a minister in the House of Lords reads out the same statement, word for word, before taking questions. Lord True, a Cabinet Office minister, read Ellis’s statement to peers this afternoon and as he opened they responded by laughing. They seemed to find the line about “a sophisticated and robust system for upholding public standards” particularly amusing. Even Natalie Evans, the leader of the Lords sitting alongside True, seemed to see the funny side.

This is from Insider’s Henry Dyer.

Updated

At the afternoon Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson confirmed that the allegations about Chris Pincher that were raised with Boris Johnson at the time of the reshuffle in February, when he was made deputy chief whip, were not the same as the Foreign Office ones from 2019 revealed this morning. Including the allegations from last week, that triggered Pincher’s resignation, that meant there were three incidents that had led to some form of government process, the spokesperson said.

My colleague Jessica Elgot says the mood among Tory MPs today is worse than it was on the day of the no-confidence vote in Boris Johnson.

Updated

According to the Sun’s Noa Hoffman, some Tory MPs are planning to resign as parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) over the latest developments in Pinchergate.

The Scottish government has published an 18-page document setting out the case it is making to the supreme court explaining why it is asking for a ruling as to whether its Scottish independence referendum bill is lawful under devolution law. The reference to the court comes from Dorothy Bain, the lord advocate (the Scottish government’s chief law officer) and in her filing she said:

The Scottish government, the Scottish parliament and the people of Scotland and the wider United Kingdom ought to have clarity on the scope of the relevant reservations on this issue of fundamental constitutional importance.

Being questions of law, only this court can provide that clarity and unless the issue is judicially resolved there will remain uncertainty and scope for argument about the powers of the Scottish parliament. That is not in the best interests of the people of Scotland or of the United Kingdom.

In these circumstances, the lord advocate has determined that it is appropriate for her to obtain a judicial determination from the supreme court. Accordingly, the lord advocate makes this reference, in exercise of her retained functions, under paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 of the Scotland Act.

It is the first time this power has been exercised by the lord advocate. That is a measure of the fundamental importance of the issue and its exceptional nature.

Downing Street has released its readout of Boris Johnson’s call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainiain president. It suggests Johnson had an upbeat message for his ally. No 10 said:

The prime minister updated on the latest UK military equipment, including 10 self-propelled artillery systems and loitering munitions, which would be arriving in the coming days and weeks.

The prime minister said the world was behind Ukraine, and he believed President Zelenskiy’s military could retake territory recently captured by Putin’s forces.

Conservative MPs are escalating their campaign for a second no- confidence vote in Boris Johnson in the light of the latest developments in the Chris Pincher scandal, ITV’s Paul Brand reports.

Updated

Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, told Radio 4’s World at One that Downing Street’s handling of the Chris Pincher affair showed a “pattern of constantly trying to mislead, confuse stories and not come clean when the issue arises”.

He also praised Simon McDonald - who as Lord McDonald is a fellow peer - saying his letter was a “model of clarity”. Kerslake said:

It’s very unusual for a former civil servant to write in this way and I can’t think of many examples where it’s happened.

I actually welcome the letter - it is a model of clarity in what has been days of changing stories and indeed inaccuracies from No 10, so we do now have a clear picture of what happened in the Foreign Office and it is incumbent on the government to be much clearer themselves on the set of events here.

In fact, McDonald’s letter is not a model of clarity in all respects. He sets out very clearly why he thinks No 10 has not been telling the truth about what Boris Johnson knew about Chris Pincher’s past conduct when he made him deputy chief whip. But he does not explain whether he is writing to Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, primarily about Pincher (who is named as the subject of the letter) or about No 10 (the main subject of the letter). He does not explain whether he wants Stone to investigate what happened in 2019 (which he investigated himself), or other Pincher allegations. And he says that Pincher “deceived me and others in 2019”, without explaining what that means. Is he saying Pincher deceived him because he said he would not repeat the inappropriate behavour, when he went on to do so? Or is he saying Pincher withheld other information at the time?

Ministers to start holding regular press conferences on government's plan for economy

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson said Boris Johnson and other ministers would start holding regular press conferences to publicise what they are doing to help people with the cost of living. Summing up what Johnson told ministers at the start of cabinet, the spokesperson said:

The prime minister added that tackling inflation and addressing cost of living pressures will remain the top priority which is why we will be holding regular government press conferences over the next six months to explain the details of different elements of the government’s plan for the economy.

The idea is modelled on what happened during the pandemic, when the daily press conferences from Downing Street where watched by large numbers of people, and generally seen as an important source of information.

But what made the Covid press conferences particularly compelling were the contributions from the scientific experts. With regard to the cost of living crisis, it is not clear who would or could perform the Chris Whitty role, giving added credence to government policy.

Johnson is not expected to take all the press conferences himself, but he is expected to do some of them and this might create its own problems. Johnson is not regarded by many voters now as a trusted source on anything very much, but he is particularly weak on economic policy, a subject on which he has limited knowledge or interest. George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor, says as much in a comment quoted in Howard Davies’s gossipy and insightful new book, The Chancellors. Osborne told Davies:

Boris Johnson has not idea at all about budgets and fiscal policy. When I dealt with him on London’s budgets he did not know the difference between £10m and £100, though his spending ideas were not ridiculous. As prime minister, he will not know if the Treasury if imposing cuts or not.

From the Telegraph’s Tony Diver

'At the time that was the PM's view' - No 10 spokesperson denies misleading journalists with Pincher briefings

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman denied that he and other No 10 officials had misled reporters in firstly saying the prime minister did not know about any specific earlier allegations about Chris Pincher, or the subsequent update that any incidents he did know of had been “resolved”.

The spokesperson said:

We always seek to provide the information we have at the time. This information does take time to establish.

He confirmed Johnson was briefed in late 2019 about the complaint about Pincher’s behaviour at the Foreign Office that was upheld.

Asked why ministers and No 10 officials thus said on Friday that Johnson did know about any specific claims, the spokesperson argued Johnson had simply forgotten about a briefing he characterised as dating back “a number of years”. The spokesperson went on:

At the time, last week, that was the prime minister’s view. You will appreciate that it takes some time to establish that he was briefed, albeit we don’t think in a formal meeting, about this. That’s why we sought to update on Monday.

Asked if he planned to tell journalists the truth at the briefing, the spokesperson said he did, saying also that he did not plan to resign.

Clive Efford (Lab) uses a point of order to say that, if Boris Johnson was told about the Chris Pincher complaint in 2019, that should have been recorded in minutes of the meeting.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says he is confident that Efford will find ways of pursuing this question.

Chris Bryant (Lab), chair of the Commons standards committee, raises a point of order. He says Michael Ellis told MPs that the latest allegations against Chris Pincher were being investigated by the Commons. But he says the Ellis cannot know that. He says the process for investigating complaints about MPs made under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme is entirely confidential. He says it is important to say that so that victims have confidence in using the scheme.

This statement is over. This is from David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, on what Michael Ellis said.

Ellis claims that this government does not have a problem with dishonesty. He accuses Labour of being sanctimonious.

Ellis says a “difference of recollection” does not mean that the person involved was being dishonest.

Andrew Slaughter (Lab) asks Ellis if, when he was a barrister, what he would have told a client who sought to rely on the defence that he was told something, but had forgotten. Would he put him in the witness box?

Ellis accuses Slaughter of trying to make a political point out of a serious allegation.

Chi Onwurah (Lab) says, rather than investigate when Boris Johnson has lied, whether it might save time to hold an inquiry into whether he has ever told the truth.

Back in the Commons Sarah Jones (Lab) asks Ellis if he has ever forgotten being told about a sexual harassment complaint against a fellow minister.

Ellis says that the PM has “a myriad array of urgent and pressing responsibilites”. He says Boris Johnson “may be told literally hundreds of things in any one day”. Ellis says he would be surprised if Jones has not forgotten things she has been told.

No 10 confirms PM was told about Pincher complaint in 2019 - but not in 'formal meeting'

The prime minister’s spokesperson cannot have been looking forward to today’s lobby briefing and the opening question was one of the best. “Are you planning on telling us the truth today?”

Yesterday the spokesperson told journalists that Boris Johnson was aware of some specific allegations against Chris Pincher before he made him deputy chief whip (not what they said last week), but that these were allegations that had been resolved, or where no action had been taken.

This morning it emerged that this was untrue, because Johnson had been told about a complaint about Pincher that had been upheld.

The spokesperson’s response to the opening question was “Yes”. He always provided information “available to me at the time of each briefing”, he said.

He claimed that he had not misled journalists yesterday. Asked to explain the discrepancy between yesterday’s briefing, and what was revealed this morning, the spokesperson said:

Those of you who were here at yesterday’s briefing would have heard me say that [the PM] was aware of allegations that were either resolved – and that would relate to the incident [at the Foreign Office] – or that did not progress to a complaint. And it was important to be clear on that, and that’s why I made the point of updating you all, when we had the information available to us yesterday ...

As relates to this incident, a complaint was made. It was looked into through the Foreign Office processes, with support from the propriety and ethics team [in the Cabinet Office]. The complaint was upheld, albeit not dealt with as a formal disciplinary matter.

The spokesperson also said he could confirm that Boris Johnson was told about the complaint about Pincher in 2019.

I can confirm that he was briefed on that about the complaint relating to Mr Pincher in the Foreign Office which was resolved.

I don’t believe that that was a formal meeting to inform him of it but I am still seeking to establish the details.

The spokesperson added that he thought the prime minister was told by “someone in the Cabinet Office” and that had been “a number of months” after the complaint was investigated.

Updated

Caroline Johnson (Con) asks if the allegations about Pincher in 2019 involved sexual assualt. If they did, he should have been sacked and the police should have been involved, she says.

Ellis says he cannot answer that. But he says it is important to respect the confidentiality of victims.

Updated

Jackie Doyle-Price (Con) says what happened in 2019 should have been enough to tell the PM that appointing Chris Pincher to be deputy chief whip was not wise. The PM could have used Pincher’s talents in another way, she says.

She says there is a need for a complete reboot of standards, and a complete reboot of the ministerial code.

In the Commons Peter Bone (Con) is speaking now. He is the first Tory to defend Boris Johnson in this session (apart from Ellis). He says opposition MPs only turn up to attack Johnson. He says his constituents are more concerned about the national insurance cut coming into force this week than in the conduct of an MP they won’t have heard of.

Sir Bernard Jenkin (Con) asked why the government kept promoting people “with the wrong attitudes or the wrong behaviours” to government.

In response, Ellis said the government might not have known someone had the wrong attitude when they were appointed. He said the government could not act on rumours.

Jenkin is a member of the privileges committee that will decide whether or not Boris Johnson lied to MPs about Partygate.

William Wragg (Con), chair of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee, said most ministers have a sense of decency. He said they should now consider whether they could “any longer tolerate being part of a government which, for better or worse, is widely regarded as having lost its sense of direction”.

Ellis told Wragg he did not accept what he said about the government.

UPDATE: Wragg said:

[Ellis] mentions the sophisticated and robust systems for upholding standards in public life, but those systems are on the whole irrelevant if the participants have no regard for them.

The question that faces the government and I would suggest my honourable and right honourable friends sat on the bench - and I notice a greater degree of propensity of Government whips rather than other ministers at this time - is for them to consider what they are being asked to say in public which changes seemingly by the hour, and I would ask them to consider the common sense of decency that I know the vast, vast majority of them have and ask themselves if they can any longer tolerate being part of a government which, for better or worse, is widely regarded of having lost its sense of direction.

It is for them to consider their positions, this is not a question of systems, it is a question of political judgment and that political judgment cannot be delegated.

And Ellis replied:

[Wragg] is quite wrong. The fact of the matter is, this is a government that knows its direction and that is to serve the British people in dealing with the issues that matter to them, including cost of living, the crisis in Ukraine and those other issues including the pandemic which this prime minister and this government have dealt with in an exemplary fashion.

Updated

Johnson did not remember being told about Pincher misconduct allegation in 2019, minister claims

Michael Ellis is responding to Rayner.

He says Chris Pincher is being investigated. And he says this complaint may be investigated by the police. The sub judice rule should apply, he says.

I ask the house to accept that bearing in mind the member in question [Chris Pincher] had been reappointed to government by a previous prime minister in 2018, and then that he’d been appointed in 2019 as a Foreign Office minister and then, crucially, he was appointed for a third time in February, I doubt whether anyone could in knowledge of those facts say that this prime minister should have acted otherwise than he did.

It is the morally fair thing to do in any case to assess the situation based on evidence, not unsubstantiated rumour. It is incumbent on all of us in this House, as it is in society generally, to act fairly.

If there is no evidence at the time, if there is no live complaint, no ongoing investigation, surely it is not unreasonable to consider making an appointment.

He says in October 2019 officials raised concerns with Simon McDonald, permanent secretary at the Foreign Office. There was an inquiry that reported to McDonald. The exercise reported in due course.

The exercise established that while the minister meant no harm, what had occurred caused a high level of discomfort.

The minister apologised and those who complained accepted this, Ellis says. The PM was made aware of this. He was told that the permanent secretary had taken the necessary action. And so there was no question of Pincher having to leave the government.

Ellis goes on:

Last week, when fresh allegations arose, the prime minister did not immediately recall the conversation in late 2019 about this incident.

As soon as he was reminded, the No 10 press office corrected their public lines.

Updated

Tories defending the indefensible, says Rayner

Angela Rayner says Michael Ellis speaks of personal responsibility. But he needs to remind the PM of his personal responsbility for what has happened.

Was Lord McDonald telling the truth?

Why was nothing done about Chris Pincher at the time. A minister of state at the Foreign Office has a sensitive role in national security.

Why was this conduct not considered a breach of the ministerial code? Why did the prime minister allow him to stay in post?

Rayner says there is no accountablity in place. The PM does not have an ethics adviser in place. There is now an “even bigger ethical vacuum” in place in Downing Street.

What message does this send about the standards of this government?

When will this minister stop defending the indefensible and say enough is enough?

Updated

Cabinet Office minister urges MP not to 'prejudge' allegations under investigation

Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, asks her question.

Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister, replies. He says the UK is fortunate to have mechanisms in place for upholding standards in public life.

He says he is willing to explain them. But he wants to say something about victims first.

He was a barrister for 17 years, he says. It is important that we do not prejudge any particular case, he says.

Additional rules and guidance are in place to help ensure consistency, he says.

Independent bodies are there to provide a broad oversight of standards.

Those mechanisms exist as a result of the decisions of MPs, he says.

He lists some of the bodies that maintain standards. And standards regimes are in place, he says.

He says it is “incumbent on us not to prejudge these decisions”.

The confidentiality of those who make complaints should be protected.

But he says personal responsibility is also vital.

Updated

Cabinet Office minister to answer Commons urgent question prompted by latest Chris Pincher revelation

In the Commons a Cabinet Office minister will be responding to an urgent question at 10.30am tabled by Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader. It is expected to be Michael Ellis, who by now has extensive experience defending Boris Johnson’s ethics record in the Commons. Rayner has asked for a statement “on the mechanisms for upholding standards in public life”, but in practice this is certain to focus on the Chris Pincher scandal.

Updated

This is from Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser and now one of his fiercest critics, on the news that the PM has had another call with the Ukrainian president this morning. (See 12.10pm.)

The much-delayed Downing Street lobby briefing (see 11.54am) has now started. What is said is embargoed until it is over.

Johnson has call with Ukrainian president as No 10 faces renewed claims it lied over Chris Pincher scandal

“Hello, is that President Zelenskiy’s office? It’s Downing Street here. Prime Minister Johnson was wondering if the president is free to take a call?”

This seems to be a regular occurrencee in Kyiv and, amazingly, such calls often seem to coincide with days when Boris Johnson is facing some sort of domestic turmoil in London. No 10 has denied that Johnson reaches for the hotline to Ukraine as a distraction technique but, as the i’s Jane Merrick reported recently, the evidence to the contrary is compelling.

And, lo and behold, guess who Boris Johnson has been calling this morning. This is from Volodymr Zelenskiy.

Updated

John Penrose, the Conservative MP who resigned as the government’s anti-corruption champion over the Sue Gray report, and Boris Johnson’s response to it, says Simon McDonald’s letter is “dynamite”. He says the reset promised by No 10 after Partygate “has no credibility”.

From the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, the union representing senior civil servants, has said that it is extraordinary that Chris Pincher was allowed to remain a minister after the incident investigated in 2019. Any civil servant in the same position would have been sacked, he says.

Alain Tohhurst from Politics Home has some more pictures from cabinet this morning.

Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister (right) at cabinet this morning, listening as Boris Johnson addressed his ministers.
Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister (right) at cabinet this morning, listening as Boris Johnson addressed his ministers.

 Photograph: Justin Tallis/PA

This is from my colleague Gaby Hinsliff on Dominic Raab’s interviews this morning. (See 10.37am.)

And this is from my colleague Archie Bland.

The SNP has called for an inquiry into whether Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher affair has broken the ministerial code. In a statement referring to Simon McDonald’s letter, Brendan O’Hara, the SNP spokesperson on Cabinet Office matters, said:

This evidence from a former senior official in the Foreign Office demolishes Boris Johnson’s claims and raises serious questions over whether he has lied and broken the ministerial code.

There must now be a full investigation. If the prime minister has lied, there is no question that he would have to resign. This once again places the spotlight on how utterly broken the Westminster system is and how Scotland would be better off with independence.

Sir Roger Gale, the Tory MP and long-standing critic of Boris Johnson, said Simon McDonald’s letter shows the prime minister lied, PA Media reports. Gale said he will now support a change of the rules of the Conservative 1922 Committee to allow a fresh vote of confidence in the PM to go ahead within 12 months of the previous one.

Gale told the BBC:

Mr Johnson has for three days now been sending ministers - in one case a cabinet minister - out to defend the indefensible, effectively to lie on his behalf. That cannot be allowed to continue.

This prime minister has trashed the reputation of a proud and honourable party for honesty and decency and that is not acceptable.

It is so blatant a lie it has to be acted upon as swiftly as possible by my party.

In a short blog James Forsyth, the Spectator’s political editor, says the reaction of Tory MPs to the latest Pinchergate development is “a combination of exhaustion and despair”. He says:

After Partygate, Johnson’s allies told Tory MPs that they were sorting out No 10, that there would be no more self-inflicted wounds. But the same mistakes are again being made and Tory MPs are increasingly losing patience.

Updated

And this is from Adam Payne at Politics Home.

From ITV’s Paul Brand

Nicola Sturgeon asked Boris Johnson to discuss a fresh referendum on independence when the two spoke by phone on Monday evening. According to a Scottish government readout of their conversation, she warned him she would not be deterred if he refused to grant one.

Downing Street has not yet issued a readout of the conversation – lobby reporters should get one at their morning briefing later. We do not know what the prime minister said in reply to Sturgeon’s request for permission to stage a referendum, under a section 30 order granted by the UK government. Johnson has yet to reply in writing to Sturgeon’s demand by letter that Holyrood gets that section 30 order.

Sturgeon’s officials said they discussed “a range of topics” in their brief conversation. That included the UK government’s decision to raid the budgets of devolved governments and other Whitehall ministries to fund £1bn in emergency military aid for Ukraine – a move the Welsh and Scottish governments said last week was a “one off”. The Scottish government said there was “shared recognition” of that contribution.

The Scottish government said:

The two leaders agreed that a heads of government meeting will take place in the near future to discuss the current cost of living crisis. Both governments will work together to develop proposals ahead of that meeting to help those most in need of support.

In discussing Scotland’s future the first minister again made clear that the Scottish government is ready and willing to negotiate a section 30 order to secure a referendum on independence but reiterated that the absence of a section 30 order will not mean Scotland is refused the democratic right to choose.

Updated

Minister to answer urgent question in Commons from Labour prompted by latest Pincher revelation

The Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has granted a Commons urgent question on standards in public life. It will happen at 12.30pm. Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, tabled the UQ.

Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister, is likely to respond on behalf of the government.

One curious feature of the letter released by Simon McDonald today (see 9.14am) is that it is addressed to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone. Stone investigates complaints about breaches of the code of conduct for MPs and, although Chris Pincher’s conduct in 2019 probably would have been in breach of the code, McDonald is really objecting to what No 10 is saying about the matter now. This is not really a matter for Stone, because it is a government matter, not a parliamentary one, and some of those involved are No 10 press officers.

In other circumstances McDonald might have written to the No 10 ethics adviser. But of course there isn’t one – because Lord Geidt resigned last month and hasn’t been replaced.

Updated

Boris Johnson at cabinet this morning.
Boris Johnson at cabinet this morning. Photograph: Getty Images

Key event

Dominic Raab also had a gruesome time being interviewed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain by Susanna Reid. She was not impressed by his argument that, although the complaint about Chris Pincher’s inappropriate behaviour as a Foreign Office minister was upheld, that did not mean he was “guilty”.

This is from the FT’s Robert Shrimsley.

Updated

Raab reveals he did not know Johnson had been briefed on FCO complaint about Pincher in 2019

Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, was having to answer questions on Pinchergate on the media this morning and, like Thérèse Coffey (see 10.12am), he discovered the drawbacks of going into an interview armed just with a No 10 briefing. Here are the key points.

  • Raab claimed that Boris Johnson had not been “directly briefed” about the complaints about Chris Pincher’s conduct that were made when Pincher was a Foreign Office minister in 2019. He made this point on BBC News (see below) and in a subsequent interview on the Today programme, where he said:

In relation to what happened in 2019, I’m not aware that the prime minister was briefed directly about it.

I have discussed this with the prime minister over the last 24 hours, it is not my understanding that he was directly briefed.

In relation to the 2019 allegation or complaint, whilst there was inappropriate behaviour, it didn’t trip the wire into disciplinary action.

But only a few minutes later Simon McDonald was on the Today programme himself, and he said that he knew for a fact that Johnson had been briefed. (See 10am.) McDonald said he was not surprised that Raab did not know that Johnson had been briefed on the matter “because there are compartments in government, these things are very sensitive”.

But, even though Raab may not have known at the time about Johnson being briefed, it is surprising that Johnson did not mention it himself when the two men spoke about the scandal within the last 24 hours.

  • Raab claimed that it was McDonald who decided “independently from me” that Pincher should not be subject to disciplinary action in 2019. He told LBC:

There was a review, an investigation if you like ... to decide whether a formal disciplinary action or an investigation and process was warranted.

The review, conducted under the auspices of Sir Simon – now Lord – McDonald was that disciplinary action was not warranted.

That doesn’t mean that inappropriate behaviour didn’t take place. We were clear that what happened was inappropriate, but we resolved it without going for a formal disciplinary process.

  • Raab said he told Pincher “in no uncertain terms” that his conduct was unacceptable.

Updated

In line with what has become recent practice, Boris Johnson invited a film crew into Downing Street this morning to film his politburo-style address to his ministers. He did not mention the Chris Pincher scandal at all in the excerpt shown on Sky News just now, but instead talked up the national insurance cut coming into force this week. Johnson said:

[The national insurance cut] will be in people’s pay packets from tomorrow onwards and amongst other things it is there to help people up and down the country with the cost of living.

It’s part of the £37bn that we are able to spend to help people through the current pressures on food prices, on energy prices, that we are seeing. It shows that the government is firmly on the side of the British people.

Johnson also singled out Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, for praise, saying that her department got 500,000 people off welfare into work and that this saved the taxpayer billions. The PM may have felt the need to show her some generosity in the light of the wretched experience she had on Sunday trying to defend him over the Pincher affair.

Boris Johnson addressing cabinet this morning.
Boris Johnson addressing cabinet this morning. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Former FCO chief says he had to speak out because he knew what No 10 was saying was wrong

Here are some more lines from Simon McDonald’s interview with the Today programme this morning.

  • McDonald said he knew that Boris Johnson had been told at the time about the complaint about Chris Pincher’s conduct in 2019 as a Foreign Office minister. He said:

I briefed the relevant senior official in the Cabinet Office. You will understand that such complaints about ministers are very rare, very sensitive, they are dealt with at the very top level. And so I had the help and support of the Cabinet Office through the investigation.

I know that the senior official briefed the prime minister in person because that official told me so at the time.

  • He said that he decided to speak out because he knew what No 10 was saying was wrong. He explained:

It is very unusual for a retired official to do what I have done this morning. I did it by myself, because what I have seen and read over the last few days I knew to be wrong. And you know, things get to a point where you have to do the right thing.

First of all, No 10 have had five full days to get the story correct and that has still not happened.

And second, I do not approve of anonymous briefings behind the scenes. If I was to do this, I should put my name to it rather than just phone a journalist and tip them off.

In the interview McDonald certainly sounded like a reluctant whistleblower. Even though McDonald was one of several permanent secretaries after Johnson came to power amid reports that they were out of favour with the new regime, top civil servants learn discretion as their default mode, and denouncing their political bosses – or former bosses – does not come easily. McDonald sounded quite reticent, and he chose his words carefully.

  • McDonald said that he did not think it was right to say that the allegations about Pincher’s conduct at the Foreign Office had been “resolved”. He explained:

I dispute the use of the word resolved. For me resolved is too positive a word. It sounds as though a happy and agreed conclusion was reached. No, the complaint was upheld. So to leave the impression that in some way Mr Pincher was exonerated is wrong.

Updated

Johnson 'refused to act then lied about what he knew', says Labour following latest Pincher revelation

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, says that in the light of Simon McDonald’s letter it is now obvious that Boris Johnson “refused to act and then lied about what he knew”. In a statement she says:

Boris Johnson’s desperate attempts to cover up what he knew about sexual assault complaints against Chris Pincher before appointing him have been blown out the water.

It is now clear that the prime minister knew about the seriousness of these complaints but decided to promote this man to a senior position in government anyway. He refused to act and then lied about what he knew.

Boris Johnson is dragging British democracy through the muck. His appalling judgement has made Westminster a less safe place to work.

Boris Johnson urged to ‘own up to his web of lies’ after No 10 accused of not telling truth about Pincher

Good morning. One of the oldest cliches about political scandals is that it is not the original fault that brings you down, but the cover-up, and as Boris Johnson’s administration continues its Tory sleaze re-enactment pageant, it has provided the perfect illustration.

Last week Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip after reportedly drunkenly groping two men at the Carlton Club. At Westminster many people had heard rumours that Pincher may have done similar things before, and the incident immediately prompted questions as to why Boris Johnson appointed Pincher deputy chief whip in the February reshuffle in the first place.

No 10’s initial response last Friday was to say that Johnson was not aware of any allegations about Pincher’s conduct when he appointed him to the post (which gave him considerable power over Tory MPs, as well as a pastoral duty to support them). Over the last four days that line has now collapsed, to the point where any reasonable observer must conclude that Downing Street has been lying. My colleague Archie Bland has a comprehensive account of how the No 10 story unravelled in his First Edition briefing.

This morning Simon McDonald, a former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, has released a copy of the letter he has sent to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone, providing yet more evidence that No 10 has not been telling the truth. McDonald says in the summer of 2019, soon after Johnson promoted Pincher from the backbenches and made him a minister of state at the Foreign Office, officials complained about Pincher’s groping-type behaviour. (McDonald does not give details, but he says the allegations were similar to the Carlton Club ones.) The complaint was upheld and Pincher apologised, McDonald says. And when Pincher left the Foreign Office, staff did not bother with a leaving do.

Crucially, McDonald says Johnson was told about this at the time. McDonald says this shows what No 10 has been saying about what Johnson knew about Pincher – even the modified line being used yesterday – is untrue. McDonald writes:

The original No 10 line is not true and the modification is still not accurate. Mr Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation. There was a “formal complaint”. Allegations were “resolved” only in the sense that the investigation was completed; Mr Pincher was not exonerated. To characterise the allegations as “unsubstantiated” is therefore wrong.

McDonald does not use the word “lying” in his letter, and he did not use it in his subsequent interview on the Today programme. But, when asked what No 10 needed to do now, “stop lying” was effectively what he said. He told the programme:

I think they need to come clean. I think that the language is ambiguous, the sort of telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time and hoping that people are not too forensic in their subsequent questioning and I think that is not working.

In response Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, has said Johnson needs to “own up to his web of lies”. She said:

Lord McDonald has shone a new light on this murky cover-up. Boris Johnson needs to own up to his web of lies and finally come clean today. Every day this carries on our politics gets dragged further through the mud.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Updated

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