UK health minister Javid resigns as the crisis mounts

Former Chancellor of the Exchequor Sajid Javid said he had lost confidence in PM Boris Johnson’s ability to govern in the national interest after a series of scandals, saying he could “no longer continue in good conscience” as he quit his cabinet post.

Javid as Chancellor tried to be a fiscal conservative but was swept away by MPs who wanted to spend during the pandemic. He was eventually shuffled into the health file and now he’s making a power play.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak also resigned today.

Conervative MPs no longer have a clean way to force Johnson out after a vote of his colleagues failed to get a majority. They did get a higher percentage of votes than a similar exercise with Theresa May though, and she soon concluded that she must resign. There’s no sign that Johnson will take the same path.

All the turmoil isn’t doing the pound any favors as it trades at down 172 pips to 1.1932 today, the lowest since the peak of the pandemic. To be fair, little of that is to do with politics and more is to do with worries about global growth.

Update from Times editor Matt Dathan: Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab will not be resigning, allies say. “There’s no way he’s going,” says a source close to him.

/ GBP