Boris Johnson’s brother has dramatically quit the government and parliament in an apparent protest at his leadership.
Jo Johnson, a higher education minister, said it was impossible to reconcile “family loyalty and the national interest”, adding: “It’s an unresolvable tension & time for others to take on my roles as MP & minister #overandout “
It is only six weeks since the younger Johnson faced fierce criticism for returning to serve his brother – despite resigning for the first time late last year, to campaign for a Final Say referendum on Brexit.
It leaves the prime minister with the painful task of trying to explain why even his own sibling has lost faith in his handling of the Brexit crisis, as the criticism of Tory MPs grows.
In a bombshell tweet, Jo Johnson wrote: “In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national interest,” before going on to describe it as “an unresolvable tension”.
Others pointed back to an interview Jo Johnson gave, a few years ago, in which he insisted he and his brother would never suffer a family schism like David and Ed Miliband.
“We don’t do things that way, that’s a very left-wing thing,” the younger Johnson said.
“Only a socialist could do that to his brother, only a socialist could regard familial ties as being so trivial as to shaft his own brother.”
It appeared the final straw for Jo Johnson was his brother’s decision to “purge” 21 moderate Conservatives from the party, for their rebellion to block a no-deal Brexit.
Among the exiled MPs were colleagues, such as Justine Greening, with whom he had – before the summer – been working to try to avert a crash-out from the EU.
Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “Boris Johnson poses such a threat that even his own brother doesn’t trust him.”
The resignation caps a horror 24 hours for the new prime minister, who has yet to win a Commons vote while suffering multiple defeats at the hands of rebel Tories.
The Commons refused to grant Mr Johnson a snap general election, less than two hours after passing a bill designed to block a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.
An election could yet be granted for his chosen date of 15 October if the bill becomes law by Tuesday, but Jeremy Corbyn is facing a growing a Labour revolt to delay it further.
When he first resigned, in November 2018, Jo Johnson branded Theresa May’s negotiations as a “failure of British statecraft on a scale unseen since the Suez crisis”.
Warning Britain stood “on the brink of the greatest crisis since the Second World War”, Mr Johnson added: “The democratic thing to do is to give the public the final say.”