Markus Andrews

Michael Gove has privately told Boris Johnson it is time to quit as prime minister after suffering a slew of devastating resignations, including two senior cabinet ministers.The levelling up secretary, who was absent as Mr Johnson faced a grilling from Tory MPs in the Commons, told the prime minister he must resign at a meeting on Wednesday morning.It comes as Mr Johnson fights for his political survival, with dozens of frontbenchers and ministerial aides resigning their posts, and Tory MPs demanding a second confidence vote.However, just hours after the exchange, first reported by the Daily Mail, the prime minister defied calls to quit, telling MPs he had a “colossal mandate” to continue in No 10.Mr Gove famously pulled his support from Mr Johnson’s first Tory leadership bid in 2016 in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, saying he had “reluctantly” concluded the then mayor of London “cannot provide the leadership of build the team for the task ahead”.The pair both ran in the 2019 leadership race following Theresa May’s resignation from No 10, with Mr Gove given a position in Mr Johnson after the former foreign secretary won the race.Mr Gove has until now remained loyal to the prime minister – including through the Partygate scandal – first serving as Cabinet Office minister and in his current role as levelling up secretary.More follows More

Boris Johnson’s leadership is very much on the brink, with around two dozen MPs having quit government jobs in protest at his leadership.But on paper the prime minister is technically safe as Tory leader, and cannot be forcibly ousted under existing Conservative rules.That is because Mr Johnson has already survived a no-confidence vote last month.41 per cent of Tory MPs voted against him, but a majority was needed to force him from office.Under the existing rules, there can now be no new no confidence vote for a year – the matter is officially settled.The hope by those resigning over the last 24 hours is that Mr Johnson will realise the game is up and resign from his job of his own accord.But the prime minister has a reputation for brazening-out scandal, so his critics in the Tory party have a back-up plan if it does not voluntarily go.If Johnson doesn’t quit, they will simply change the rules of the game so he can be forced out. They are confident they could win a second no confidence vote.The Conservative party’s ruling 1922 committee executive meets at 4pm on Wednesday, followed by a full meeting of all MPs at 5pm. The ruling executive is made up of 18 members in total, including six officers. This includes a chairman, two vice chairs, two executive secretaries, and a treasurer.Existing members of the executive have been lukewarm on the idea of changing the rules because they worry about the precedent it would set.But the roles are up for re-election, with nominations opening later today. This is because the committee’s executive is re-elected every time there is a Queen’s Speech.The first meeting to swear in the new executive would be next Wednesday, with the first opportunity to change the rules the week after that. This means a vote to oust Mr Johnson could happen before MPs leave Westminster for their summer break on 21 July. MPs critical of Mr Johnson are already organising around changing the rules.A change could happen even sooner if existing members of the executive decide in the end to change the rules themselves.It is not clear exactly what the rules would change to, but they would likely be modified in a way that made a new vote of no confidence against the prime minister possible. Would the vote of no confidence by Tory MPs go a different way to last month? It seems likely. The result for Mr Johnson in June was already poor by the standards of previous leaders, who have resigned out of principle with better levels of support. But in the last 24 hours MPs who had openly supported the PM have turned against him and said the current situation cannot continue. There will be no shortage of MPs voting against him, even on a pragmatic basis to put and end to the turmoil More

Six more ministers have quit Boris Johnson’s government, as the beleaguered prime minister struggles to save his ailing premiership.It comes as Michael Gove has told Mr Johnson that he must step down. The Levelling Up secretary delivered the message at a meeting on Wednesday morning, The Independent understands.Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, Julia Lopez, Lee Rowley, Neil O’Brien, Alex Burghart and Mims Davies all announced they are resigning – taking the total number of departing ministers on Wednesday to 12.In a joint letter, five ministers stated the government “cannot function given the issues that have come to light and the way in which they have been handled”. Ms Davies then resigned as employment minister, saying the Tories “need a fresh start”.Treasury minister John Glen and Home Office minister Victoria Atkins are among a group of six ministers to quit the government earlier on Wednesday, citing the PM’s “poor judgement” and lack of integrity.Jo Churchill quit as health minister shortly, Stuart Andrew resigned as housing minister, Robin Walker stepped down as schools standards minister, and Will Quince left as children and families minister.More than 25 resignations of ministers, aides and envoys have followed the sensational exit of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from cabinet on Tuesday night.The prime minister now faces an uphill battle to cling on at No 10 after his handling of the row over scandal-hit ex-deputy chief whip Mr Pincher sparked outrage among Tory colleagues.A growing number of Tory MPs demand an immediate rule change to the 1922 Committee of backbenchers’ rulebook in order to force Mr Johnson from office.As the steady drip-feed of resignation letters from junior ministers and ministerial aides continued on Wednesday, new Tory MPs declared their opposition to Mr Johnson carrying on at No 10.The timeline for Mr Johnson to face another no confidence vote in his leadership could be drastically shortened if senior Tories on the 1922 Committee back a rule change later on Wednesday afternoon.Under the current rules of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives, the Prime Minister cannot face another challenge within a year of his shaky victory last month.But this could be torn up if the group’s executive – meeting at 4pm – go ahead with a proposed change to the rules as Mr Johnson’s authority evaporates with a series of ministerial resignations.Robert Halfon, who is on the 1922 Committee and has remained loyal, said: “If there is a vote for a change in leadership, I will now vote for that change.”Senior Tory MP Gary Sambrook received a round of applause from the Labour benches after calling on Mr Johnson to resign at PMQs.The executive secretary of the party’s 1922 Committee, accused Mr Johnson of attempting “to blame other people for mistakes”, and told him directly: “Take responsibility and resign”.Lee Anderson, a 2019 red wall Tory, also questioned the prime minister’s integrity and withdrew support, saying the PM’s decision to give Mr Pincher a job was “not a good appointment”.Labour leader Keir Starmer ripped into Mr Johnson and the multiple Tory resignations – ridiculing it as “the first case of the sinking ship fleeing the rat”.Mr Javid called on his former cabinet colleagues to oust Mr Johnson – telling the Commons he had quit because he had concluded that the PM was “the problem” and would not change.Calling on his former colleagues to act, the departing health secretary said: “They will have their own reason [for staying]. But they have a choice … Let’s be clear, not doing something is an active decision.” More

Boris Johnson has already endured nightmarish Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday in the wake of a dramatic evening of resignations, and must now appear before the House of Commons Liaison Committee.The chaos began when chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid both stepped down last night saying they had lost confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership after it emerged he had not been honest about his decision-making in hiring Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip.The latter’s resignation from that role last Thursday after admitting to drunkenly groping two male colleagues at private member’s club in central London prompted a slew of allegations about his conduct, which appears to have been an open secret in Westminster.Mr Johnson’s belated admission that he had been briefed on the accusations against Mr Pincher, despite previously saying he had not known about the “specific” allegations against him – his hand apparently forced by an intervention from former senior civil servant Lord McDonald – was apparently too much for Mr Sunak and Mr Javid.Having been forced to defend the PM over a slew of scandals since last autumn, from Owen Paterson to Partygate and on, they tendered their resignations and were swiftly followed by no fewer than 18 others.The PM moved quickly to appoint Nadhim Zahawi and Steve Barclay as his new chancellor and health secretary respectively, as well as Michelle Donelan as his replacement education secretary to replace Mr Zahawi, but, despite the apparent support of the rest of his Cabinet, the damage looks mortal.At PMQs, he was told to resign by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who branded his remaining front benchers “the charge of the lightweight brigade” and “a Z-list cast of nodding dogs”.The SNP’s Ian Blackford, clearly enjoying himself immensely, called Mr Johnson a “dead parrot” in another Monty Python reference and accused him of “clinging to a desperate fantasy” while Conservatives David Davis, Tim Loughton and Gary Sambrook also broke ranks to suggest it was time for the PM to go before Mr Javid delivered a moving and utterly withering resignation statement explaining his exit.Bruised from all of that and with barely time to swallow his lunch, Mr Johnson must now appear before Sir Bernard Jenkin’s Liaison Committee at 3pm, a gathering bringing together the heads of Parliament’s select committees, at which he will again be called upon to explain himself over the Pincher affair. The meeting will be broadcast on BBC Parliament and covered live on The Independent website via our liveblog. More

Boris Johnson will “never” resign and thinks he has a “God-given right to rule in perpetuity”, the prime minister’s ex-girlfriend has said.Petronella Wyatt, who had a four-year affair with Mr Johnson while working at the Spectator magazine, said government would grind to a halt and “every minute of the day will be devoted to saving Boris”.It comes as over a dozen Tory MPs, including the chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid, quit the government urging the prime minister to step down over his conduct.Mr Johnson has refused to resign despite a litany of claims that he has misled the country over the handling of an alleged sexual abuse case involving a top Tory.The PM narrowly avoided being forced out in a vote of no confidence last month after being fined for breaking lockdown rules, and was thought to be safe from ousting for another year under Tory rules.But frustrated Conservative MPs are now set to meet on Wednesday evening to change no confidence procedures to allow another vote to take place immediately. If this goes ahead Mr Johnson could be forced out by the summer recess or as early as next week – but calls for him to do the right thing and quit on his own accord continue. Yet in a post on social media Ms Wyatt, now a writer and broadcaster, warned that the prime minister was certain to remain in post for as long as possible.”Boris will never resign. He thinks he has a God given right to rule in perpetuity,” she said.”This is going to be long, drawn out and very bad for the Tory Party and the country. There will be no government, as every minute of the day will be devoted to saving Boris.”As her ex-boyfriend faced a no-confidence vote from MPs last month Ms Wyatt said claimed that Mr Johnson was “surprisingly thin-skinned” and would be in “absolute hell” after Tory MPs turned on him.Mr Johnson was sacked from the Tory front bench in 2004 for lying about his affair with Ms Wyatt, which happened when he was married to his second wife Marina Wheeler.He had dismissed the allegations of an affair as an “inverted pyramid of piffle” and assured his boss, then Tory leader Michael Howard they were untrue.But the relationship became public knowledge after Ms Wyatt’s mother revealed that her daughter had become pregnant by Mr Johnson, and terminated the pregnancy. Mr Johnson was reported to have paid for the abortion.It was the second time the now prime minister had been sacked for lying, having previously lost his job at the Times newspaper for inventing a quote.Today, Mr Johnson faces losing his job as prime minister for not telling the truth about how he handled allegations of sexual abuse by a Tory MP.Downing Street had claimed that the PM was unaware of specific serious allegations against Chris Pincher before he appointed the Tamworth MP deputy chief whp.But No 10 was contradicted in a sensational intervention by Lord McDonald, a former top civil servant, who said Mr Johnson had in fact been personally briefed on the specific allegations. The prime minister later accepted he had been briefed and said his claims to know nothing were a mistake. More

Treasury minister John Glen and Home Office minister Victoria Atkins are among a group of six ministers to quit Boris Johnson’s government on Wednesday, citing the PM’s “poor judgement” and lack of integrity.In a scathing resignation letter, Mr Glen said he could “no longer reconcile my commitment to the role” with “the complete lack of confidence I have in your continuing leadership of our country”.Resigning as justice minister, Ms Atkins told Mr Johnson that “integrity, decency, respect and professionalism” had been “fractured” under his leadership, adding that the party “must be better than this”.Jo Churchill quit as health minister shortly after Mr Johnson rose to speak at PMQs on Wednesday, attacking the PM’s “jocular, self-serving approach” in her resignation letter.Stuart Andrew also quit as housing minister during PMQs, saying he could “in all good conscience” tolerate Tory party members still having to “defend the indefensible”.Earlier on Wednesday, Robin Walker resigned as schools standards minister. And Will Quince quit as children and families minister, saying he could not accept being sent out to defend the PM on television with inaccurate information over the Chris Pincher row.They are the latest in more than a dozen resignations which have followed the exit of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from cabinet. Mr Glen, a close ally of Mr Sunak, added: “The country deserves better.”The prime minister faces the biggest leadership crisis of his premiership after his handling of the row over scandal-hit ex-deputy chief whip Mr Pincher sparked outrage.It comes as a growing number of Tory MPs demand an immediate rule change to the 1922 Committee of backbenchers’ rulebook in order to force Mr Johnson from office.Simone Hoare, Chris Skidmore and Anthony Browne said they had written to the chair of the committee, Sir Graham Brady, requesting a rule change in order to force a fresh confidence vote in Mr Johnson.As the steady drip-feed of resignation letters from junior ministers and ministerial aides continued on Wednesday, new Tory MPs declared their opposition to Mr Johnson carrying on at No 10.Robert Halfon, who has been critical but remained loyal, said: “If there is a vote for a change in leadership, I will now vote for that change”.Lee Anderson, a 2019 red wall Tory, also questioned the prime minister’s integrity and withdrew support, saying the PM’s decision to give Mr Pincher a job was “not a good appointment”. Tom Hunt MP also submitted a new letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson to the committee. “Events of the past week have been the last straw that has broken the camel’s back,” he said.West Dorset MP Chris Loder told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think he does need to go. I think if he chooses not to, I think the 1922 Committee should act and I certainly would support that approach in the forthcoming 1922 elections.”However, Mr Johnson has insisted he will not leave No 10. He is understood to have told allies that he is “not going anywhere” and his critics should “calm down”.Earlier on Wednesday Laura Trott resigned as a parliamentary private secretary, saying trust in politics “has been lost”, while Felicity Buchan also stood down as an aide, calling for “fresh leadership”.Following PMQs, Selaine Saxby, Claire Coutinho and David Johnston each said they were quitting their posts as PPSs, officials who assist ministers in their role.Their resignations followed a string of departures from the government on Tuesday evening, led by Mr Sunak and Mr Javid, who delivered broadsides at Mr Johnson as they quit their cabinet posts. More

Sajid Javid has called on his former cabinet colleagues to oust Boris Johnson, telling the Commons he had quit because he had concluded that the PM was “the problem” and would not change.Having resigned as health secretary on Tuesday evening, Mr Javid told MPs that the prime minister’s “reset button” would no longer work, adding: “Something is fundamentally wrong.”The ex-minister, who insisted that he was not “one of life’s quitters”, said: “I have concluded that the problem starts at the top and that is not going to change.”Calling on his former colleagues to act, Mr Javid said: “They will have their own reason [for staying]. But they have a choice … Let’s be clear, not doing something is an active decision.”Mr Javid said he had continued to give Mr Johnson the benefit of the doubt during the Partygate scandal – having been assured no rules were broken “from the most senior level of the prime minister’s team”.After saying that “enough is enough”, he added: “I do fear that the reset button can only work so many times. There’s only so many times you can turn that machine on and off before you realise that something is fundamentally wrong.”The prime minister faces the biggest leadership crisis of his premiership after his handling of the row over scandal-hit ex-deputy chief whip Chris Pincher sparked outrage.Six ministers resigned on Wednesday – Treasury minister John Glen, Home Office minister Victoria Atkins, health minister Jo Churchill, housing minister Stuart Andrew, schools standards minister Robin Walker and children and families minister Will Quince all quit.They are the latest in almost 20 resignations of ministers, aides and envoys which have followed the exit of Mr Javid and Rishi Sunak from cabinet.Unlike Mr Javid, Mr Sunak did not make a statement in the Commons explaining his exit, but said in his resignation letter that Britain deserved a government that is run “properly, competently and seriously”.At PMQs, Mr Johnson did not deny using the phrase “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” about the ex-minister now threatening to end his time at No 10.Labour leader Keir Starmer ripped into Mr Johnson and the multiple Tory resignations – ridiculing it as “the first case of the sinking ship fleeing the rat”.Senior Tory MP Gary Sambrook received a round of applause from the Labour benches after calling on Mr Johnson to resign at PMQs.The executive secretary of the party’s 1922 committee, accused Mr Johnson of attempting “to blame other people for mistakes”, and told him directly: “Take responsibility and resign”. More

Boris Johnson has not denied he used the phrase “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” about the ex-minister now threatening to end his premiership within days.The prime minister also refused to apologise for a Tory whip who allegedly told one of Chris Pincher’s alleged victims that it would not be “straightforward” to pursue a complaint if he was gay.It came as Keir Starmer ripped into a government apparently disintegrating after multiple resignations – ridiculing it as “the first case of the sinking ship fleeing the rat”.As the storm clouds gather – and the Tory party expected to change the rules to allow a fresh no-confidence vote as early as tonight – Mr Johnson was asked if there are ‘any circumstances” in which he would resign.But he insisted the “job” of a prime minister with a large Commons majority “is to keep going and that is what I am going to do”.Earlier, there was laughter as Mr Johnson told MPs “today is a big day”, as many contemplated whether it will be the one when he is forced to quit.He also claimed he had “acted immediately” to strip the Tory whip from Mr Pincher when the alleged scandal broke last week – although there was a gap of nearly one day.The Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, criticised Mr Johnson for saying Mr Pincher is being “investigated” by the Commons complaints service, when the process is confidential.Sir Keir told the prime minister he is “a pathetic spectacle”, adding: “As for those who are left, only in office because no-one else is prepared to debase themselves any longer –the charge of the lightweight brigade. Have some self-respect.“For a week he’s had them defending his decision to promote a sexual predator … anyone with anything about them would be long gone from his frontbench.“In the middle of a crisis, doesn’t the country deserve better than a Z list cast of nodding dogs?”But Mr Johnson replied: “It’s exactly when times are tough and when the country faces pressures on the economy and pressures on their budgets, and when we have the biggest war in Europe for 80 years, that is exactly the moment that you’d expect a government to continue with its work, not to walk away, and to get on with our job and to focus on the things that matter to the people of this country.”He also claimed there is “a ready supply of skilled labour” to replace the growing tally of MPs who are quitting his government. More