Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hold on No 10 Downing Street is dangling by a thread with a growing group of MPs stepping down from ministerial roles amid growing fury over his premiership. Cabinet big-hitters Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resigned immediately after the Prime Minister apologised for appointing former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher to a top job despite knowledge of various complaints over his conduct.
The pair were swiftly replaced on Tuesday night, with Nadhim Zahawi promoted to be the new Chancellor and Steve Barclay becoming Health Secretary. A cascade of more junior Tory figures also tendered resignations on Tuesday and made public statements about their decisions, claiming the Government is incompetent and untrustworthy. More resignations are expected later today.
Former Tory vice-chair Bim Afolami, who resigned on Tuesday saying Boris Johnson no longer had his support, said Downing Street’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal had been “appalling”. The MP for Hitchin and Harpenden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The reason why I voted for the Prime Minister (in the confidence ballot) was that he was clear that he felt he earned the right to rebuild trust in him – rebuild trust in the Government – after the issue of parties at Downing Street. I thought that was right, to give him that time.
“But I think that in the last few weeks we’ve seen that things haven’t improved. They’ve got a lot worse. I think the behaviour of Downing Street over the Chris Pincher affair was really appalling. And I, personally, just couldn’t think I could defend that sort of behaviour any longer.”
The following people resigned from their posts on Tuesday night:
Rishi Sunak, chancellor
Sajid Javid, health secretary
Bim Afolami, Conservative vice-chair
Alex Chalk, solicitor general
Jonathan Gullis , parliamentary private secretary
Saqib Bhatti , parliamentary private secretary
Nicola Richards , parliamentary private secretary
Virginia Crosbie , parliamentary private secretary
Andrew Murrison , trade envoy
Theo Clarke, trade envoy
Resignations announced on Wednesday
Laura Trott, under-secretary for transport
New cabinet appointments are as follows:
Nadhim Zahawi , chancellor
Steve Barclay, health secretary
Michelle Donelan, education secretary
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