Boris Johnson is to resign as Conservative leader today, the BBC is told, following further ministerial resignations this morning.
Reports suggest he will continue to serve as prime minister until the autumn to allow a new leadership contest to take place.
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has been reacting to the breaking news of Boris Johnson’s planned resignation.
He says he’s “glad he recognised the damage that was being done not just to the party brand but also our international stock”, he tells the Today Programme.
Ellwood adds the party now has a “massive amount of regrouping to do”.
Resignations
More than 40 ministers and aides quit on Wednesday – a record for a 24-hour period.
Even late into the night, the resignations continued, with Welsh Secretary Mr Hart standing down just before 23:00 BST.
He had been among a group of cabinet members who attempted to persuade the prime minister to stand down, which also included Mr Johnson’s former close allies Home Secretary Ms Patel, Transport Secretary Mr Shapps and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
Later on Wednesday night, former loyalist Ms Braverman joined the calls for Mr Johnson to quit, telling ITV’s Peston he had handled matters “appallingly” in recent days.
She said she would not resign as it was her duty to carry on in her current job – but added: “If there is a leadership contest, I will put my name into the ring.”
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock also withdrew his backing for the PM, saying he had “supported him through thick and thin” but he now needed to go.
Mr Hancock – who said he would not be running for the leadership – predicted Mr Johnson would not be leader for much longer, “whether that’s tomorrow or next week”.
This morning, bluntly, there is a standoff.
A standoff between the prime minister and swathes of the Conservative Party, from the cabinet down.
The last two days have robbed Boris Johnson of much of his authority; but not yet his job.
He is still there in Downing Street – determined and defiant, his government pockmarked by unfilled ministerial vacancies after a slew of resignations.
Mr Johnson’s career has been defined by a convention smashing attitude.
That style now confronts what some fear could soon be a constitutional conundrum: what happens if the prime minister won’t budge.
The former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith said it was a “disgrace” – “our system works on confidence, he has lost it,” Mr Smith said, fearing what he called a “major constitutional situation”.
Conservative backbenchers who want rid of the prime minister still have another option – changing the rules, next week, so another vote of confidence in him could be held.
But some cabinet ministers – including Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg remain loyal to the prime minister.
And justifying Mr Johnson staying in the role, a No 10 source said: “The prime minister has a mandate from 14 million people to get a job done… If the party wants to stop him they have to take that mandate away.”
The BBC has also been told Mr Johnson has been stressing that millions voted for him, and questioning whether any of his would-be successors would be able to “replicate his electoral success at the next election”.
Mr Johnson appeared in front of the Liaison Committee earlier on Wednesday – a group of MPs which scrutinises government decisions and policies.
He ruled out calling a snap general election, saying the earliest date he can see for one is 2024.
The PM survived a confidence vote last month and under current rules he is immune from another challenge for 12 months.
But there are elections next week to the top team of the 1922 Committee, which organises the confidence votes. Rebel Tories want to get elected so that they can push through a rule change so that a confidence vote can be held sooner.
The wave of resignations was triggered by revelations about the prime minister’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against former Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher.
On Tuesday, it emerged that Mr Johnson had been personally briefed about a complaint against Mr Pincher in 2019 when the Tamworth MP was a minister in the Foreign Office.
It contradicted days of denials from No 10 that the prime minister had known of any formal complaints about Mr Pincher, and prompted resignations that evening by two key cabinet colleagues, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
Mr Javid told the Commons in his resignation speech on Wednesday that “enough was enough” and “the problem starts at the top and I believe that is not going to change”.
The row is the latest issue to prompt Conservative MPs to question the prime minister’s leadership and direction of government.
Mr Johnson’s government has been dogged by a series of controversies in recent months, not least by a police investigation into parties in Downing Street during lockdown.
Some Tory MPs have also expressed dissent over tax rises, the government’s response to rising living costs and its policy direction.
