Devil in the Detail
Boris Johnson has resigned as Foreign Secretary just hours after David Davis walked away from the cabinet.
The outspoken Brexiter joins a long list of MPs to quit Theresa May’s cabinet, leaving the PM in dire straits.
David Davis and his junior minister Steve Baker resigned their positions on Sunday night, and now Johnson has walked away in what is thought to be a protest over the Brexit policy she agreed with ministers at Chequers on Friday.
Johnson, the most high-profile Brexit-backer, had fallen silent after briefings emerged in the hours after the summit claiming he had compared selling May’s proposed deal as “polishing a turd”.
As questions began to swirl over May’s premiership, the PM replaced Davis with rising star Dominic Raab but senior Tories said they were unable to locate the Foreign Secretary as the hours drew on.
The walk-out by the former Vote Leave talisman threatens to open the floodgates on a backbench Tory Brexiteer rebellion.
A number of Tories, including the influential Jacob Rees Mogg and Andrea Jenkyns, had already said they were prepared to write to the powerful 1922 Committee to call for a leadership contest.
