Rishi Sunak was yesterday knocked by a double hammer blow after two senior Tory ministers resigned from their posts leading to a mini cabinet reshuffle.
James Heappy and Robert Halfon both confirmed their resignation as armed forces minister skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister respectively.
Heappey, the Conservative MP for Wells, Somerset, earlier this month announced his intention to quit as an MP and to stand down as a minister before then.
In the reshuffle, Nus Ghani MP was announced as a Minister of State (Minister for Europe) in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Leo Docherty MP was announced as a Minister of State (Minister for the Armed Forces) in the Ministry of Defence.
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Also in the announcement, Kevin Hollinrake MP is to be a Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade and Luke Hall MP is to be a Minister of State in the Department for Education.
In an exclusive poll for GB News membership readers, an overwhelming majority (94 per cent) of the 330 voters thought the mini-reshuffle was too little, too late, while just four per cent thought it wasn't. Two per cent said they did not know.
Announcing his resignation on social media, Heappey wrote: “I’ve loved every minute as MinAF in this incredible department.
“Our Armed Forces & MOD civil servants are the very best of us. Representing them in Parliament & around the world over last 4.5 years has been an amazing privilege.
“From the first COBR on COVID-19 to the most recent Ukraine Donor Contact Group last week in Ramstein via Kabul, Kyiv, Kosovo, Khartoum and the Southern Red Sea. It’s been an incredibly busy four and a half years.
James Heappey and Robert Halfon will be stepping down from Rishi Sunak's governmentPA/WikiCommons“Thanks also to the fantastic civil servants who work so hard across the Defence enterprise from our world-beating scientists to those who do the hard yards procuring the stuff our armed forces need to those who work on policy in the MOD itself.
“And finally thanks to the three PMs who’ve asked me to serve in this amazing role and to Ben Wallace, Grant Shapps, Nick Carter, Tony Radakin, Stephen Lovegrove, David Williams and my awesome Private Office team for putting up with me!”
In his own letter to the Prime Minister, Halfon said: “After well over two decades as the Harlow Parliamentary Candidate and as MP, I feel that it is time for me to step down at the forthcoming general election, and in doing so, to resign as a minister in your Government.”
Following the resignations, former Labour MP Caroline Flint joked on Sky News: “I think the total number of Conservatives who are standing down is 63 and who knows, there may be some more.
“It gives the chance for pretty much everyone on the Conservative benches to maybe become a minister by the time we get to the general election.”
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