Michael Gove has privately told Boris Johnson it is time to quit as prime minister after suffering a slew of devastating resignations, including two senior cabinet ministers.
The levelling up secretary, who was absent as Mr Johnson faced a grilling from Tory MPs in the Commons, told the prime minister he must resign at a meeting on Wednesday morning.
It comes as Mr Johnson fights for his political survival, with dozens of frontbenchers and ministerial aides resigning their posts, and Tory MPs demanding a second confidence vote.
However, just hours after the exchange, first reported by the Daily Mail, the prime minister defied calls to quit, telling MPs he had a “colossal mandate” to continue in No 10.
Mr Johnson refused to comment on the meeting when quizzed by MPs at the liaison committe later on Wednesday, saying he is “not going to give a running commentary on political events.”
Mr Gove famously pulled his support from Mr Johnson’s first Tory leadership bid in 2016 in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, saying he had “reluctantly” concluded the then mayor of London “cannot provide the leadership of build the team for the task ahead”.
The pair both ran in the 2019 leadership race following Theresa May’s resignation from No 10, with Mr Gove given a position in Mr Johnson after the former foreign secretary won the race.
Mr Gove has until now remained loyal to the prime minister – including through the Partygate scandal – first serving as Cabinet Office minister and in his current role as levelling up secretary.
The comments from Wednesday’s private meeting between the pair emerged after Sajid Javid, who quit as health secretary last night, delivered an eviscerating resignation statement in the Commons.
With the prime minister in the chamber, Mr Javid called on his former cabinet colleagues to oust Mr Johnson from office, waring them: “Not doing something is an active decision”.
Mr Javid said he had continued to give Mr Johnson the benefit of the doubt during the Partygate scandal – having been assured no rules were broken “from the most senior level of the prime minister’s team”.
After saying that “enough is enough”, he added: “I do fear that the reset button can only work so many times. There’s only so many times you can turn that machine on and off before you realise that something is fundamentally wrong.”
