Ordinarily, Boris Johnson relishes days like today. . .
Cabinet ministers at No 10 after Boris Johnson told delegation is waiting to tell him to go – live
Anne-Marie Trevelyan arriving at No 10 earlier this afternoon. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
"Priti Patel, the home secretary, is backing those cabinet ministers saying Boris Johnson should go, the Times’ Matt Dathan reports. Patel used to be one of his strongest supporters. He defied expectations when he made her home secretary, and he backed her when his ethics adviser produced a report saying she broke the ministerial code by bullying staff. But recently their relationship has been more frayed, with No 10 sometimes apparently briefing criticism of her handling of the Channel small boats problem.
EXCLUSIVE:
— Matt Dathan (@matt_dathan) July 6, 2022
Priti Patel has sided with the group of Cabinet ministers calling for PM to go
The home secretary - one of Johnson's most loyal supporters - believes there's no way he can continue to govern without the support of his party
She's joined Shapps and Gove NOT Dorries
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has just come out of No 10, Sky News reports. But he did not say anything on his way out.
Nadine Dories arriving at No 10 this afternoon. Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP
The night before she resigned, Margaret Thatcher met members of her cabinet one by one to ask if she could rely on their support in the second ballot of the leadership contest. She won the first round, but not by the threshold then required. If Thatcher thought that not allowing them to confront her as a group would lessen their courage and weaken their resolve to tell her to go, it did not work. Most of them told her that her time was up.
According to Harry Cole from the Sun, Boris Johnson is deploying the same tactic.
NEW: Sources say PM is seeing Cabinet ministers one at a time rather than a being greeted by the whole delegation.
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) July 6, 2022
Number of them told Chief they would resign last night or today without movement.
When they did they were invited to No10 by CHH to tell the PM to his face.
PPS resignations continue
The Tory resignations keep coming. Here are some of the latest from MPs.
David Duguid has resigned as a trade envoy for Angola and Zambia. In a statement, he said: “In light of recent events, I believe the prime minister’s position is now untenable.”
Peter Gibson has resigned as a PPS to the international trade department. In his resignation letter he said:
On Saturday last week I marched with LGBT+ Conservatives at London Pride.
As a gay MP, that should have been a liberating, enjoyable experience, instead due to the damage our party has inflicted on itself over the failure to include trans people in the ban on conversion therapy, it was a humiliating experience and signalled to me the immense damage that has been so needlessly inflicted after years of hard work by many to rebuild the damage of Section 28.
— Peter Gibson MP (@Gibbo4Darlo) July 6, 2022
Sara Britcliffe has resigned as PPS to Nadhim Zahawi (although she was PPS to him as education secretary, and so it was not inevitable that she would move over to the Treasury).
It is with a heavy heart that I’ve given my resignation as PPS in a Department I love, Education. This Government has achieved so much start delivering on levelling up in Hyndburn and Haslingden. But, this self-inflicted crisis risks undoing all of that. It’s time to draw a line. pic.twitter.com/DQLosYplJf
— Sara Britcliffe MP (@SarBritcliffeMP) July 6, 2022
Mark Fletcher has resigned as PPS to Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary. Fletcher was at the Carlton Club when Chris Pincher got drunk there last week and he said he was offended by the PM’s suggestion that MPs like him were at fault. He said:
As you are aware, early last Thursday morning I had to intervene in a very serious situation at the Carlton Club involving the former deputy chief whip.
I reported the events immediately to the chief whip, who took appropriate action and handled the situation with superb levels of seriousness and care. On Friday, upon my raising concerns around Mr Pincher still having the whip, you and I spoke about the events that had happened on Thursday morning.
I was reassured that shortly after our call you did the right thing and suspended the whip for Mr Pincher. However, in our conversation in the tearoom yesterday, you suggested that the events of that night were the fault of the colleagues who were present for allowing him to drink so much.
Such a view seems to me an attempt to absolve Mr Pincher of his actions and, in so doing, to be an apologist for someone who has committed sexual assault. I am unable to accept such a crass and insensitive interpretation of what happened that night.
I have reached the conclusion that any person who suggests that anyone other than Mr Pincher is solely responsible for what happened that night is unfit to lead our country.
Conservative MP for Bolsover Mark Fletcher resigns as BEIS PPS pic.twitter.com/SSa7PHJfpF
— Georgia Roberts (@GeorgiaZemoreyR) July 6, 2022
Labour says committee hearings for legislation being cancelled because too many ministers have resigned
In the Commons earlier Conor McGinn, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, used a point of order to say he understood the government had adjourned or “effectively cancelled” committee hearings organised for tomorrow to consider legislation before parliament as they are “unable to provide ministers”. He said:
It seems very much to me that this is a government that has ceased in its ability to govern.
My colleague Aubrey Allegretti says Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, has been spotted heading towards Downing Street.
Graham Brady spotted walking out of parliament by the Red Lion. May only be headed to one place… pic.twitter.com/YHxW0a7gq4
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) July 6, 2022
Brady is the ultimate embodiment of the fabled “men in grey suits”, but today he’s wearing blue.
Allegra Stratton resigned as a spokesperson for Boris Johnson after footage was released of her joking about No 10 holding a lockdown busting party in a rehearsal for a televised briefing. She was the first person from No 10 to resign over Partygate, and now works for Bloomberg where she writes a daily email. In tonight’s edition she says watching Sajid Javid in the Commons explain why he felt he could not longer continue to serve Johnson reminded her of her own experience. She says:
Even as they were preparing the prime minister for today’s public ordeals, members of his team told me they believed the game was up.
Others were more bullish: “He’s not going voluntarily,” one said, “regardless of how many people tell him to.”
Ordinarily, Boris Johnson relishes days like today. When I worked for him, in Downing Street, he would flex his arm muscles and gurn like a wrestler in moments of strife. While I maintain he is frequently humble, sweet and kind, he thinks people who resign are, essentially, not political enough.
Listening to Sajid Javid speak after PMQs was tough for a lot of people. The journey that the now-former health secretary described was one that the prime minister has put many of us through.
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