Cabinet reshuffle: Sajid Javid hits out at Boris Johnson's conditions after quitting as chancellor
Resignation letter says it is ‘important to have trusted teams that reflect the character and integrity you wish to be associated with’
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Your support makes all the difference.Sajid Javid has taken a swipe at Boris Johnson after quitting as chancellor, saying “any self-respecting minister” would reject the conditions the prime minister was offering, as several senior heads rolled in a cabinet reshuffle.
Mr Javid, who had long had tensions with Mr Johnson’s closest adviser, Dominic Cummings, also suggested Mr Johnson was stripping the Treasury of its credibility.
In a bombshell less than a month before the budget, he chose to quit rather than sack his aides, as the prime minister had demanded. He is being replaced by Rishi Sunak, who has been an MP for only five years.
His resignation letter said it was “important as leaders to have trusted teams that reflect the character and integrity that you would wish to be associated with”.
Also in the reshuffle, Mr Johnson sacked Julian Smith as Northern Ireland secretary, Andrea Leadsom as business secretary, Esther McVey as housing minister, Theresa Villiers as environment secretary and Geoffrey Cox as attorney general.
Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell claimed Mr Javid’s shock exit showed Mr Cummings had won “absolute control” of Downing Street and had left the government “in crisis”.
Please see below for what was our live coverage.
‘Respect’: Senior Labour MP shares admiration for Sajid Javid
Yvette Cooper has responded to the resignation of Sajid Javid.
She said he was “the only Tory MP who contacted me directly on Friday to express support & solidarity when a Tory activist was sentenced for violent threats against me”.
Suella Braverman appointed attorney general
The Tory MP for Fareham has been named as Geoffrey Cox’s replacement as attorney general.
Just days ago she argued parliament must “retrieve power ceded to another place – the court”.
“Prorogation and the triggering of Article 50 were merely the latest examples of a chronic and steady encroachment by the judges,” she wrote on ConservativeHome.
Robert Jenrick remains in cabinet
Robert Jenrick – the first millennial to be appointed to the cabinet – is to remain in his post as housing, communities and local government secretary.
George Eustice promoted to environment secretary
Former farming minister George Eustice has been promoted to environment minister after Theresa Villiers was sacked from the role this morning.
Gavin Williamson remains education secretary
The former chief whip and defence secretary, who was sacked from Theresa May's government for leaking information from the National Security Council, made a return to the ministerial ranks last summer. He will remain at the Department for Education.
Ben Wallace keeps his job as defence secretary –
Despite speculation he could be axed by Boris Johnson, Ben Wallace will remain in post as defence secretary.
Charities relieved as Boris Johnson decides not to axe foreign aid department
Aid groups have spoken of their relief after the department for international development (DfID) was saved from the axe in Boris Johnson’s botched reshuffle.
But they immediately called for much-needed stability at the aid department – as Anne-Marie Trevelyan was appointed its fifth secretary of state in just five years.
Campaigners for the world’s poor had fought a hard battle to rescue DfID, which both the prime minister and Dominic Cummings, his controversial chief aide, were keen to abolish.
Jacob Rees-Mogg survives reshuffle
Speculation had been rife Rees-Mogg, who was sidelined in the election campaign for his incendiary comments on Grenfell, would be fired in the reshuffle. But he has kept his job has leader of the House of the Commons and will continue to attend cabinet.
Why did the pound go up after Sajid Javid resigned?
The value of sterling shot up and UK government borrowing costs rose in response to the surprise resignation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, on Thursday.
The pound jumped more than half a per cent after it emerged at midday that Mr Javid had tendered his resignation in response to a demand from 10 Downing Street that he merge his advisory team with that of the Prime Minister.
Sterling, which had been trading at $1.2982 before the news, rose to $1.3041 within the hour.
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