JACOB Rees-Mogg has resigned as business secretary after conceding he would not get a job in Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet.
It came less than an hour after he appeared in the House of Commons for the last time as minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
A source close to Rees-Mogg said: “He knows he was very close to the previous two regimes and it didn’t seem likely he was going to be appointed in the new Cabinet.
“He’s happy to support the Prime Minister from the backbenches.”
The Johnson loyalist was the first Cabinet minister to announce his resignation.
Shortly after, Brandon Lewis resigned as justice secretary, declaring his full support to the new Prime Minister.
An honour to have been one of the longest serving Cabinet ministers - having done eight ministerial roles, in five departments, under four Prime Ministers. The new PM will have my support from the back benches to tackle the many challenges we face - as a Party and as a country. pic.twitter.com/ulZjpcHkWk
— Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) October 25, 2022
He tweeted: "An honour to have been one of the longest serving Cabinet ministers - having done eight ministerial roles, in five departments, under four Prime Ministers.
"The new PM will have my support from the back benches to tackle the many challenges we face - as a Party and as a country."
In his letter, Lewis told the Prime Minister: “Our party is at a crossroads. We now have an opportunity to reunite and rebuild, and we must take it.
"We must come together and deliver the mandate we were given by the British people.
“We have a duty to the country to do so, at a time of economic hardship for so many. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the Conservative Party and everything we stand for is at stake if we do not.
“You will have my support from the backbenches in addressing the economic crisis we face, bringing our party together and delivering on the promises we put forward in the 2019 manifesto, on which we won such an overwhelming majority.”
Following Lewis's resignation, Wendy Morton revealed that she is no longer chief whip.
She tweeted: “Heading to the back benches from where I will continue to represent the constituents, businesses and communities of Aldridge-Brownhills.”
It comes almost a week after Ms Morton’s status as chief whip was in the balance amid speculation she had resigned over the fracking vote in the Commons last Wednesday, only for Downing Street to insist she remained in the post hours later.
Sunak is expected to launch a Cabinet reshuffle this afternoon.
'Boris or bust'
Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset, was a vocal supporter of Boris Johnson, becoming one of the first members of the Liz Truss government to back him in the Tory leadership contest.
Just days ago, the politician tweeted that he was "Boris or bust".
During the last Tory leadership contest, Rees-Mogg described Sunak as the “much-lamented socialist chancellor” who had put up taxes during the coronavirus pandemic.
And he accused Sunak of “disloyalty” to Johnson, with many Conservatives blaming the new leader for bringing down the old one by resigning as chancellor.
He was also an avid supporter of Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget, which announced unfunded tax cuts and led to economic turmoil and eventually the resignation of Truss.
He has been criticised by opposition parties for his Conservative views on social issues as well as his comments on Scotland and devolution.
'There is no border between Scotland and England'
In 2020, Rees-Mogg repeated Johnson's claim that there is no border between Scotland and England – insisting that the UK is “one country”.
He said: “There are no internal borders within the United Kingdom. It is one country, I am glad to say. And the fact there are – there is a difference between borders and between districts and areas."
He continued: “[Nicola] Sturgeon wishes to build a wall. Unfortunately, Mrs Sturgeon’s policy isn’t fictional. Many of us with that it were, and the separatists were a bit more fictional but they’re not, they’re here and they bang on about it constantly. But we are still one country and Scotland benefits enormously from being part of the United Kingdom.”
The First Minister later labelled the suggestions that there is no Scottish Border as "absurd".
