Oliver Dowden quit his role as Tory Party chair because he "can't go on defending the indefensible", a senior Tory has suggested.
Mr Dowden, a cabinet minister, resigned shortly after the Conservatives lost byelections in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton, where Partygate was again raised by voters on the doorstep.
"That Oliver Dowden has resigned is...significant," Sir Roger Gale, the North Thanet MP told Sky News earlier. "Oliver is an honourable and decent man and he's obviously decided that he can't go on defending the indefensible".
The PM has insisted that he will “keep going” at No 10 despite the crushing double by-election losses.
Simon Lightwood won for Labour in Wakefield in West Yorkshire after gaining 13,166 votes to the Conservatives 8,231. Meanwhile, The Liberal Democrats’ Richard Foord won convincingly in Devon gaining 22,537 votes overturning a 24,000 Tory majority.
