John Glen, the minister responsible for financial regulation and the City of London, is the latest MP to resign from the government.
Glen, the economic secretary to the Treasury, resigned this morning after a number of other MPs - including the previous chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid - handed in their resignations last night.
In his letter to prime minister Boris Johnson, Glen said it had “been a privilege’ to serve in HM Treasury under three chancellors but that he could “no longer reconcile my commitment to the role and to the financial services sector with the complete lack of confidence I have in your continuing leadership of our country.”
He added: “Recent events concerning the handling of the appointment of the former deputy chief whip, and the poor judgement you have shown, have made it impossible for me to square continued service with my conscious.”
Glen said reforms to financial services are ready to be presented to parliament and represent “a fundamental reset of the regulatory framework for the industry and consumers.”
Glen was appointed economic secretary to the Treasury back in January 2018 by former prime minister Theresa May.
This morning (July 6) has also seen resignations from education ministers Will Quince and Robin Walker as well as solicitor general Alex Chalk.
Last night, Nadhim Zahawi was appointed to replace Rishi Sunak as chancellor, who stood down from cabinet hours earlier.
Health secretary Sajid Javid had resigned minutes earlier, with both MPs saying they had lost confidence in the prime minister.
Over the past week prime minister Boris Johnson has been embroiled in a row over his role in appointing MP Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip earlier this year.
Pincher resigned last week after allegedly groping two men at a private member’s club in London.
But there were questions over whether Johnston was aware of a separate sexual misconduct allegation made against Pincher before he was appointed to the role of deputy whip.
amy.austin@ft.com
