Rishi Sunak has resigned as chancellor and Sajid Javid has resigned as health minister as Boris Johnson’s leadership faced another crisis.
Mr Sunak said that “the public rightly expects the government to be run correctly, competently and seriously”, adding: “I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”
In an incendiary letter published minutes earlier, Mr Javid said the British people “expect integrity from their government” but voters now believed Johnson’s government was neither empowered nor “acting in the national interest.” ‘.
The resignation came after Mr Johnson was forced to make a humiliating apology for his handling of the Chris Pincher feud after he was found to have been forgotten about past allegations of ‘inappropriate’ behaviour.
Pincher stepped down as a deputy head whip last week after alleging he groped two men in a private club, but Johnson was told of allegations against him as early as 2019.
The prime minister acknowledged that he should have fired Pincher when told of the claims against him when he was foreign minister in 2019, but instead Johnson appointed him to other government positions.
When asked if that was a mistake, Mr Johnson said: ‘I think it was a mistake and I apologize for that. In hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do.
“My apologies to everyone who has been severely affected. I want to make it absolutely clear that in this government there is no place for someone who is predatory or abusive of his position of power.”
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