Tag: Cabinet reshuffle

It follows Boris Johnson’s departure on Monday when he became the second cabinet minister to resign in 24 hours, claiming Britain was “headed for the status of colony”. Cabinet: who's in and who's out David Davis Goes to the backbenches after kicking off the ministerial reshuffle with his resignation as Brexit secretary over Theresa May's negotiation plans. “At least half a dozen people made that point and the prime minister responded, too – what is good for the country is a Conservative government.” Earlier, Downing Street announced Johnson’s resignation as foreign secretary, just minutes before May addressed MPs about the softer Brexit plan agreed at Chequers on Friday. Many of the prime minister’s supporters believe she would win a contest and cement her authority; but May would face a leadership challenge if she lost, with Johnson among the potential candidates. Asked whether May would contest a no confidence vote, a Downing Street source said simply: “Yes.” The Guardian view on Boris Johnson’s resignation: good riddance to a national embarrassment | Editorial Read more Asked whether May was confident that the rest of her cabinet backed the negotiating position agreed at Chequers, which is due to be fleshed out in a white paper later this week, he added: “There is no reason to think otherwise.” The carefully choreographed meeting last week resulted in a deal May believed her cabinet had signed up to, which would create a “UK-EU free trade area” for goods, governed by a “common rule book”. Johnson was the cabinet minister most closely associated with Vote Leave’s controversial claim that Brexit would deliver an extra £350m a week for the NHS. Davis was replaced as Brexit secretary by fellow leaver Dominic Raab. One senior Brexiter suggested more resignations could follow in the coming weeks and months. “If you’d told me two hours ago that this is how we’d end the day, I’d have bitten your hand off.” As Johnson’s resignation was announced, Labour MPs were being briefed about the government’s soft Brexit plan by May’s de facto deputy, David Lidington, in a sign that Downing Street is beginning to accept that it will need to draw on cross-party support to get her plans through parliament, without the backing of hardline Brexiters.

We’re going to close down this live blog after a frenetic day of politics news. Thanks for reading. You can catch up on the full story here: And here’s a summary of what’s happened this afternoon... May’s position looked precarious as she was hit by a series of high profile resignations, including those of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, both Brexit supporters. The long-serving health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was appointed foreign secretary to replace Johnson and Dominic Raab was made Brexit secretary in place of Davis. Matt Hancock took over Hunt’s role at the Department for Health, while Jeremy Wright was moved from attorney general to culture secretary to replace him. And Chris Heaton-Harris became a junior minister at the Brexit department, replacing Steve Baker. May addressed backbenchers and many sought to project an image of unity afterwards. But it took less than an hour for one attendee to hand in his resignation. Guy Verhofstadt, the chief Brexit coordinator for the European Parliament, says he hopes today’s resignations will lead to unity in the UK government.