Boris Johnson will finally announce his resignation today – but is lining up a ‘unity Cabinet’ as he battles to stay in Downing Street for months longer.
The PM admitted defeat in the wake of a shattering intervention from Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed on Tuesday night following Rishi Sunak’s departure. He told Mr Johnson that his situation is ‘not sustainable’.
A No10 source said Mr Johnson has spoken to Tory 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady and agreed to stand down, with a new Tory leader set to be in place by the party conference in October.
A spokeswoman said the PM will ‘make a statement to the country’, which is due around 1pm.
However, at the same time Mr Johnson has set about rebuilding his Cabinet, making Greg Clark the new Levelling Up Secretary and James Cleverly the Education Secretary. Robert Buckland is returning as Welsh Secretary, and Shailesh Vara takes over as Northern Ireland Secretary.
Kit Malthouse becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Mr Clark was in the Cabinet under Theresa May but stepped down when Mr Johnson took over, and Mr Buckland was axed as Justice Secretary in a reshuffle last year. Mr Vara was previously a Northern Ireland minister but has been out of government.
The others are long-standing allies promoted from other jobs.
The PM’s resignation announcement will effectively fire the starting gun on what looks set to be a chaotic leadership battle. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss – expected to be a candidate – is cutting short a visit to Indonesia to return to the UK.
However, it is far from clear that Mr Johnson staying on until October – more than two months – will be acceptable to Tory MPs. More than 50 government members have resigned, and there will be questions over whether they can simply be reappointed, or would even agree to that. There are rumours that Mr Johnson still wants to push key policies such as tax cuts.
Keir Starmer threatened to call a Parliamentary confidence vote and try to force a general election if Mr Johnson does not leave immediately.
‘He needs to go completely. None of this nonsense about clinging on for a few months,’ he said.
George Freeman, who announced he was resigning as science minister this morning, said Mr Johnson must apologise to the Queen and advise her to call for a caretaker PM.
‘Boris Johnson needs to hand in the seals of office, apologise to Her Majesty and advise her to call for a caretaker prime minister,’ he said. ‘To take over today so that ministers can get back to work and we can choose a new Conservative leader to try and repair the damage and rebuild trust.’
Ex-No10 chief Dominic Cummings wrote on Twitter: ‘Evict TODAY or he’ll cause CARNAGE, even now he’s playing for time & will try to stay
‘No ‘dignity’, no ‘interim while leadership contest’.
‘Raab shd be interim PM by evening.’
Another former minister, Nick Gibb, said: ‘As well as resigning as Party leader the PM must resign his office.
‘After losing so many ministers, he has lost the trust and authority required to continue. We need an acting PM who is not a candidate for leader to stabilise the government while a new leader is elected.’
Although he stopped short of resigning, Mr Zahawi appears to have struck the killer blow with his public call for Mr Johnson to give in. He tweeted: ‘Prime Minister: this is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country. You must do the right thing and go now.’
Education Secretary Michelle Donelan, who was installed in post at the same time as Mr Zahawi, also declared she is quitting, barely two hours after Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis fell on his sword.
Up to then the PM had vowed defiance despite the overwhelming evidence of his authority draining away.
At 6.47am, Mr Lewis tweeted that he could no longer continue without ‘honesty, integrity and mutual respect’.
Minutes later Treasury minister Helen Whately followed suit saying ‘there are only so many times you can apologise and move on’.
Security minister Damian Hinds and science minister George Freeman had followed by 7.30am, and pensions minister Guy Opperman by 7.50am.
Meanwhile, Wales minister David TC Davies publicly announced that he had refused a promotion to take over from Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, who quit last night. The Attorney General, Suella Braverman has called for Mr Johnson to resign and said she is only staying in place to keep the government functioning.
With the resignation tally reaching well over 50, the government was unable to find a minister willing to go on the airwaves to speak up for the PM this morning – with total silence from his team for hours.
The chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris was seen going into Downing Street early, after the lights were seen on in the PM’s flat deep into the night.
However, Mr Johnson’s critics were swarming to studios.
Former Cabinet minister Julian Smith warned that the premier had seen how Donald Trump behaved in relation to the Capitol riots after the US election, and was looking to have a ‘mini version in the UK’.
There were even suggestions from allies that Mr Johnson could try to force a snap general election in a desperate bid to cling to office – something that could drag the Queen into a constitutional crisis.
Veteran Tory MP Bernard Jenkin had urged Carrie Johnson to step in a convince her husband that he should throw in the towel.
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Johnson has very dark connections and has proved that he does not simply have bumbling ineptitude, as portrayed, but apparently has deliberately attempting to ruin this country and at the same time ruin international health, peace, and economies in favour of the W.H.O.. The Tory party appears to be consumed by it’s own self interests wealth and power. I see no future leaders in it.
But, we should not celebrate, the opposition has, with one notable exception (Zara Sultana MP) remained largely silent, or ineffectual, preferring to email people and ask them to “chip in” . They sound more like Tory back benchers when they said Boris Johnson must go because of party-gate, but if removing Mr Jonson is all they can come up with after the worst government since Oliver Cromwell’s time, I don’t see much leadership potential there either.