Foreign secretary Boris Johnson has resigned amid growing anger at Theresa May’s Brexit plans.
His resignation follows that of Brexit secretary David Davis who quit late last night.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “This afternoon, the prime minister accepted the resignation of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. His replacement will be announced shortly. The prime minister thanks Boris for his work.”
The resignations of the two cabinet ‘big beasts’ comes just days after Mrs May secured senior ministers’ agreement at Chequers for a Brexit plan about which both men had expressed reservations.
Davis was first to go, announcing his exit just before midnight on Sunday.
But there was growing speculation about Mr Johnson’s plans after he failed to attend a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergencies committee as well as a summit of Western Balkan nations being held in London.
Staunch Brexiteer Dominic Raab was named as Mr Davis’s replacement. Mr Johnson’s replacement is expected shortly.
Speaking in the House of Commons Mrs May said she wanted to “recognise the passion” that the outgoing foreign secretary had shown in promoting a “global Britain to the world”.
Mrs May added that she wanted to recognise the work of the former Brexit secretary on steering through some of the “most important legislation for generations”.
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