UPDATE: Bracknell MP James Sunderland has resigned from government
UPDATE: Newbury Tory MP calls for Boris Johnson's resignation
Members of the Conservative Party that represent Berkshire constituents have been eerily quiet on what has been another day of drama at Westminster.
Boris Johnson vowed to “keep going” during Prime Ministers Questions (PMQ’s) despite the number of resignations from his government in the past 24 hours reaching 32 and counting – most notably the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, and the Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid last night
There have also been a number of other MPs who have publicly withdrawn support for Mr Johnson, including Liam Fox who urged him to “do the right thing and resign.”
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None of the six local Tory MPs have made a public statement on whether Mr Johnson maintains their support since the resignations started
The Prime Minister is facing mutiny from his own party following his handling of the scandal involving former deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher.
Mr Johnson had earlier said he made a “big mistake” in hiring the MP as his deputy chief whip, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, but only after days of claiming he wasn’t aware of the allegations.
The two key roles of Chancellor and Health Secretary have already been filled with Nadhim Zahawi and Steve Barclay respectively.
Conservative MP for Wokingham John Redwood has commented on the installation of the new chancellor by urging Mr Zahawi to “avoid a recession” by cutting tax.
“Inflation will fall next year. The new Chancellor needs to fight recession which high taxes and tight money will bring on,” he added.
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“The last Chancellor said he believed in low taxes, but he kept putting them up. Can the new Chancellor cheer us up and avoid recession by actually cutting tax?”
Tory MPs for Bracknell Forest James Sunderland, West Reading Alok Sharma, Newburry Laura Farris, Windsor Adam Afriyie and the former PM and current MP for Maidenhead Theresa May have been tight lipped since the drama began to unfold.
Labour MP for East Reading Matt Rodda has also not made a public comment, but Labour’s MP for Slough, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, accused the “ineffective, spineless Cabinet” of enabling “a corrupt, liar of a PM”.
“Even now, despite Government collapsing around them, many sit there and continue to parrot his constant bluster. The ‘work’ of this Government resulted in nothing but chaos and they need to go,” Mr Dhesi added.
Mr Johnson survived a confidence vote last month so is shielded from another challenge for another 12 months under the current rules. However, there has been talk of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs changing the rules to allow a second vote.
But it is clear that Mr Johnson intends to try and ride out the storm, he claims the job of PM who has a “colossal mandate” is to “keep going”.
“That’s what I am going to do,” he insisted.
Below is a list of government resignations so far. It is accurate at the time of publication.
Sajid Javid – Health Secretary
Rishi Sunak – Chancellor
Andrew Murrison – Trade Envoy to Morocco
Bim Afolami – Conservative Party Vice-Chair
Jonathan Gullis – Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Northern Ireland Secretary
Saqib Bhatti – PPS to the Health Secretary
Nicola Richards – PPS to the Transport Secretary
Virginia Crosbie – PPS to the Wales Secretary
Theo Clark – Trade Envoy to Kenya
Alex Chalk – Solicitor General
Will Quince – Children and Families Minister
Laura Trott – PPS to the Transport Secretary
Robin Walker – Schools Minister
Felicity Buchan – PPS to the Business Secretary
John Glen – Treasury Minister
Victoria Atkins – Justice Minister
Jo Churchill – Defra Minister
Stuart Andrew – Housing Minister
Selaine Saxby – PPS to the Treasury
Claire Coutinho – PPS to the Treasury
David Johnston – PPS to the Education Secretary
Kemi Badenoch – Equalities and Local Government Minister
Neil O’Brien – Levelling Up Minister
Alex Burghart – Education Minister
Lee Rowley – Business Minister
Julia Lopez – Culture Minister
Mims Davies – Department for Work and Pensions Minister
Duncan Baker – PPS to secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Rachel Maclean – Safeguarding Minister
Craig Williams – PPS for Treasury
Mark Logan – PPS to the Northern Ireland Office
Mike Freer – UK Exports Minister
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