The letters of resignation have been coming thick and fast since Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quit on Tuesday evening. As of Prime Minister's Questions at noon on Wednesday, Johnson had seen two cabinet ministers and five other ministers resign over his handling of the Chris Pincher allegations.
However, even as Johnson was facing off against Keir Starmer over the dispatch box, another MP quit their Government post. With 15 ministerial resignations (as of 2.45pm) in less than 24 hours, as well as nine private parliamentary secretaries and two trade envoys also going, how does the number of resignations from Johnson's Government compare to other recent PMs?
Since he took over as PM in July 2019, Johnson has had 33 ministers quit, including eight cabinet ministers, more than Thatcher, Major, Blair, and Brown and Cameron. However, that is still a way off the numbers that resigned while May was Prime Minister, when rows over Brexit contributed to 41 ministers quitting, including 10 cabinet ministers.
Blair and Thatcher both had more cabinet ministers hand in their letters of resignation at 12 and 15, respectively. Over much longer terms, Blair saw 29 ministers quit, while Thatcher had 26 resign.
The figures above are from the Institute for Government (IFG), which has been keeping track of resignations. They've excluded parliamentary private secretaries, who act as unpaid assistants to ministers, from the overall numbers
There are some MPs included in the overall list who left the role during a reshuffle, as such the IFG said it can sometimes be difficult to discern whether it was a resignation or a sacking. Other MPs in the list were essentially sacked, having been told to resign.
The Institute for Government data also gives an idea of the rate at which ministers are quitting. Up to the end of his first two years as Prime Minister, Johnson was seeing minsters resign at a faster rate than any other recent PM, however, that rate slowed into his third year, putting him behind Brown and May.
However, the events of the last day have seen the resignation rate for Johnson soar - if the numbers of MPs who've had enough continues to grow he could catch up to May.
Who has quit Boris Johnson's government (as of 2.45pm on July 6)?
| Baron Young of Cookham | Lord-in-waiting Government whip |
29/08/19 | Resigned in protest of Boris Johnson's plans to prorogue parliament. |
| Jo Johnson | Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation | 05/09/19 | Stated he was "torn between family and national interest". |
| Amber Rudd | Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | 07/09/19 | Resigned over Boris Johnson's "purge" of the party and his "failure" to pursue a deal with the EU. |
| Alun Cairns | Secretary of State for Wales | 06/11/19 | Resigned following claims he had known about a former aide's role in the "sabotage" of a rape trial. |
| Conor Burns | Minister of State for Trade Policy | 04/05/20 | Standards Committee found that he had used his position to intimidate a member of the public. |
| Douglas Ross | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland | 26/05/20 | Discontented with Dominic Cummings' explanation for breaching the government's restrictions on travel during the COVID- pandemic. |
| Simon Clarke | Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government | 08/09/20 | Personal reasons. |
| Lord Keen of Elie | Advocate General for Scotland | 16/09/20 | Concerns arising from the Internal Market Bill. |
| Chris Green | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Education | 13/10/20 | Opposed the government's response to the COVID- pandemic. |
| Caroline Ansell | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 22/10/20 | Defied government whip on free school meals. |
| Baroness Sugg | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Overseas Territories and Sustainable Development | 25/11/20 | Opposed the announcement of cuts to the overseas aid budget. |
| Kelly Tolhurst | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Rough Sleeping | 16/01/21 | Personal reasons. |
| Johnny Mercer | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans | 20/04/21 | Expressed frustration that the Overseas Operations Bill did not include legal protections for British soldiers that served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It has been reported that Mercer was sacked by Johnson. |
| Matt Hancock | Secretary of State for Health and Social Care | 26/06/21 | Breaching social distancing guidelines after he was revealed to be having an affair with his aide and departmental Non-Executive Director Gina Coladangelo. |
| James Brokenshire | Minister of State for Security | 07/07/21 | Health reasons; surgery on a lung tumour. |
| Lord Frost | Minister of State for the Cabinet Office | 18/12/21 | Opposition to "COVID Plan B" and the political direction of the government. |
| Lord Agnew of Oulton | Minister of State for Efficiency and Transformation | 24/01/22 | Unable to defend the government's track record on tackling fraud in Covid business schemes. |
| Angela Richardson | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 31/01/22 | Criticised Boris Johnson for his mishandling of the partygate affair |
| Lord Wolfson of Tredegar | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice | 13/04/22 | Accused Boris Johnson of undermining the rule of law, following his decision not to resign in response to criminal sanctions imposed on him by the Metropolitan Police. |
| Paul Holmes | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Office | 27/05/22 | Concerns around "toxic culture" at the heart of government following the publication of the Sue Gray report |
| John Lamont | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | 06/06/22 | Resigned in order to vote against Boris Johnson in a vote of confidence as leader of the Conservative Party |
| Oliver Dowden | Chairman of the Conservative Party Minister without Portfolio |
24/06/22 | Resigned over poor results at the Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield by-elections. |
| Chris Pincher | Government Deputy Chief Whip Treasurer of the Household |
30/06/22 | Reports that he drunkenly grouped two men at the Carlton Club on June. |
| Sajid Javid | Secretary of State for Health and Social Care | 05/07/22 | Multiple resignations following a statement by the Prime Minister in which he confirmed that had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against Chris Pincher before appointing him to the government. |
| Rishi Sunak | Chancellor of the Exchequer | 05/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Saqib Bhatti | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Health and Social Care | 05/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Jonathan Gullis | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Northern Ireland Office | 05/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Nicola Richards | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Transport | 05/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Virginia Crosbie | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales | 05/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Alex Chalk | Solicitor General for England and Wales | 05/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Will Quince | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Laura Trott | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Transport | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Robin Walker | Minister of State for School Standards | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| John Glen | Economic Secretary to the Treasury | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Felicity Buchan | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Victoria Atkins | Minister of State for Prisons and Probation | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Jo Churchill | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Agri-Innovation and Climate Adaption | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Stuart Andrew | Minister of State for Housing | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Selaine Saxby | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| David Johnston | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Education | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Claire Coutinho | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the HM Treasury | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Kemi Badenoch | Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities Minister of State for Equalities |
06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Neil O'Brien | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, The Union and Constitution | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Alex Burghart | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Julia Lopez | Minister of State for Media, Data, and Digital Infrastructure | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Lee Rowley | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Industry | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
| Mims Davies | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment | 06/07/22 | Resigned over Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations |
