Sajid Javid, the health secretary, followed shortly by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, posted their letters of resignation on Twitter, criticising the competence of the government. Neither explicitly mentioned the sexual misconduct and Partygate scandals that have dogged the government for months. Sunak in particular claimed the prompt for his resignation was his differing approach on the economy.
But the backdrop to both resignations was Johnson’s catastrophic handling of the Chris Pincher affair, after he admitted appointing his ally as deputy chief whip despite having been told of misconduct allegations against him. Just seconds earlier, Johnson had told the cameras that he was sorry for his mistakes in appointing Pincher, and he had toured the House of Commons tearoom saying that “everyone deserves a second chance”.
The problem is that Johnson is not on his second chance but a number much higher than that after scandals such as Partygate, Tory donors funding his flat renovations, his overriding of Security Service advice to give a peerage to Evgeny Lebedev, and attempts to rewrite the standards system. The two major resignations did not lead to an immediate further deluge of cabinet ministers quitting but Tory MPs critical of Johnson still believe this means the end is nigh for the prime minister….
After the truth-shower 