Piers Morgan has led celebrity reactions after Rishi Sunak resigned as chancellor and Sajid Javid quit as health secretary.
On Tuesday, Mr Sunak said ‘the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously’, adding ‘I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.’
In an incendiary letter, Mr Javid said the British people ‘expect integrity from their government’ but voters now believed Mr Johnson’s administration was neither competent nor “acting in the national interest.’
The resignations came as Mr Johnson was forced into a humiliating apology over his handling of the Chris Pincher row after it emerged he had forgotten about being told of previous allegations of ‘inappropriate’ conduct.
Mr Pincher quit as deputy chief whip last week following claims that he groped two men at a private members’ club, but Mr Johnson was told about allegations against him as far back as 2019.
Reacting to the news, journalist Piers simply tweeted: ‘It’s over’ and called for Mr Johnson to ‘resign.’
While Piers’ former TV wife and Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid wrote: ‘Government is imploding.’
In a separate tweet, he added: ‘WOW!!! Chancellor Rishi Sunak has also resigned. Cabinet dominos falling.. it’s over for Boris.’
Sports broadcaster Gary Lineker added: ‘The party’s over.’
Comedian Rufus Hound said: ‘I wish I could feel more joy in this, but it just feels like the heads on a hydra. However many topple, new ones replace them and the monster continues its rampage.’
Financial journalist Martin Lewis tweeted: ‘Wow! #Sunak and #Javid are gone – resigned from the cabinet.
‘The expectation to say anythign to spin crisis after crisis to defend the Big Dog just too much. Surely this isn’t the beginning of the end for Boris Johnson – its at least the middle of the end.’
The Prime Minister acknowledged he should have sacked Mr Pincher when he was told about the claims against him when he was a Foreign Office minister in 2019, but instead Mr Johnson went on to appoint him to other government roles.
Asked if that was an error, Mr Johnson said: ‘I think it was a mistake and I apologise for it. In hindsight it was the wrong thing to do.
‘I apologise to everybody who has been badly affected by it. I want to make absolutely clear that there’s no place in this Government for anybody who is predatory or who abuses their position of power.’
Mr Sunak, who had been due to make a joint economic speech with Mr Johnson next week, said ‘it has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different’.
‘I firmly believe the public are ready to hear that truth,’ he said.
‘Our people know that if something is too good to be true then it’s not true. They need to know that whilst there is a path to a better future, it is not an easy one.’
The Cabinet revolt came as Mr Johnson battled to contain the row over his handling of the fallout from Mr Pincher’s Carlton Club incident.
MPs were told that Mr Johnson had initially not recalled being told about the earlier 2019 allegations.
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