LAST UPDATE | 9 Jul 2018
THE BRITISH PRIME Minister Theresa May has already announced her new foreign secretary.
Last night Britain’s Brexit Minister David Davis resigned, while Boris Johnson resigned as Foreign Secretary this evening. Junior minister Steve Baker confirmed he had also quit, alongside Davis.
Long-serving Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been given the job of foreign secretary, taking the reins from Johnson who earlier said that the “Brexit dream is dying” and that Britain is “headed for the status of colony”.
Dominic Raab was named as new Secretary of State for Brexit earlier, with Hunt has now been named the replacement for the defiant Johnson.
These resignations are a major blow for May as she struggles to unite her party behind a plan to retain strong economic ties to the European Union even after leaving the bloc.
After a marathon day-long meeting with her ministers on Friday, Theresa May outlined the UK’s stance to negotiations, which has been dubbed the Chequers agreement.
But the key principles are quite vague. They include “ending free movement”, “no more sending vasts sums of money each year to the EU”, and “a new business friendly customs model with freedom to strike new trade deals around the world”.
Brexiteers are unhappy with the stance, saying it doesn’t do justice to Brexit.
Parliamentary private secretary Chris Green, meanwhile, has become the latest member of the Conservative government to step down.
In his resignation letter, Tory MP Green said, “The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears.”
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