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.
Simon Clarke has been made a minister in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Downing Street announced.
Greg Hands will return to government as a Department for International Trade minister.
Michelle Donelan has been appointed an education minister, and Caroline Dineage has been made a minister in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Chris Philp has been made a parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Home Office.
George Eustice 'less strong than Gove'
New environment secretary George Eustice is unlikely to prove as strong a champion for the environment as his predecessor-before-one Michael Gove, according to eco campaign group the Green Alliance, which added: "But he knows the Defra brief very well and has spoken out in defence of strong environmental and animal protections in the farming system. It looks likely that Theresa Villiers will keep him on his toes from the backbenches."
But the group added: "A lot of questions are still to be answered when it comes to protecting the natural world."
Former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt will return to government as paymaster general in the Cabinet Office, Number 10 announced. She was sacked from her post as defence secretary when Boris Johnson first became prime minister.
In his resignation letter, the former chancellor said: "I regret that I could not accept the conditions attached to your reappointment.
Rishi Sunak has been appointed as chancellor after Sajid Javid sensationally resigned amid a row with Boris Johnson over his close aides.
Elected to parliament for the first time in 2015, Mr Sunak has had a meteoric rise through government.
But his appointment is a sign of how Mr Johnson and his aides are using the reshuffle to reward loyalty – and stamp out dissenting voices.
New attorney general Suella Braverman has been appointed the government’s chief legal adviser just days after unleashing a broadside against “unelected, unaccountable” judges who she accused of encroaching on the powers of politicians and threatening the supremacy of parliament.
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.
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.
Asked whether the Budget will go ahead on 11 March as planned, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said only: “Extensive preparations have already been carried out for the Budget and they will continue at pace.”
On the future chancellor’s special advisers, the spokesman said: “The prime minister has announced the formation of a new Downing Street team based at numbers 10 and 11. It will jointly advise the prime minister and chancellor as they work to level up the economy across the UK.
“The chancellor and prime minister will work together to build this team across the coming weeks.”
The spokesman confirmed that the chancellor will not have a separate set of special advisers at the Treasury.
Asked whether the government’s fiscal rules set out by Mr Javid as chancellor remain in place, the spokesman said: “You know the manifesto the prime minister was elected on.”
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.
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.
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.
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”.
.png?w=600)
