PRIME Minister Boris Johnson will announce his resignation later today after a wave of government ministers made it clear that his position was untenable.
A total of 59 MPs have quit the government over the last two days, including former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and MP for Mid Sussex and employment minister Mims Davies.
Six Conservative MPs across Sussex have called for the Prime Minister to step down over the last few days, including former minister Tim Loughton and former schools minister Nick Gibb.
Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham - who had been a critic of Boris Johnson for many months, said in an interview with Sky News yesterday evening that the “game is up” for the Prime Minister.
He said that the PM would have no prospect of being able to fill the growing number of vacancies in government departments “because frankly, I think he’d really struggle to find people that would now want to serve in his government.”
Former employment minister Mims Davies said she had struggled with the decision to resign, but, in a letter to the Prime Minister, she said: “I have become increasingly concerned about your premiership, those around you and our great party’s direction and what we truly stand for.
“I am sad to say many of my constituents feel you have not met those standards and I agree with them. I have no confidence in your leadership, and I ask you to consider your position for the sake of the country and party. I fought on with you as you made changes, but these have been to no avail.”
She also said that the good work being done by the government was being “overshadowed by what has unfolded from the heart of the government in Downing Street”.
Henry Smith, MP for Crawley, praised the Prime Minister for delivering on Brexit, securing a “world-leading” vaccination programme, and supporting the people of Ukraine.
However, he said in a statement on his website, “the unnecessary personal decision errors which have been made in Downing Street mean that for the sake of our country we now need new leadership”.
Chairman of the transport select committee and MP for Bexhill and Battle Huw Merriman joined calls for the Prime Minister to step down yesterday.
He said: “Events of the past few days have demonstrated a further failure on the part of the Prime Minister, in terms of judgement, competency and integrity.
“We cannot continue like this. The current situation is causing inertia in government and if we allow standards expected of those in public office to fall, we will lose the trust of the public and we will never attract the high calibre, trustworthy and hard-working individuals into politics or public service.”
Late last night, he tweeted that he hoped the Prime Minister would “latch on to some dignity” and step down.
MP for Hastings and Rye Sally-Ann Hart signalled she had lost confidence in the Prime Minister shortly after the resignation of former health secretary Sajid Javid and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday.
In a brief statement, she said: “Considering the further revelations that have come to light, and given that the integrity of Parliament must be upheld, on behalf of my constituents of Hastings and Rye I am no longer able to support Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister.”
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Johnson critic and Bognor MP Nick Gibb repeated calls for the Prime Minister to go and said “decisions are being taken in order to shore up support of the PM by Conservative MPs”.
Referencing the recent confidence vote in the Prime Minister, he said: “Any other leader would have resigned by now, with that level of opposition to them in their own party.”
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