LOSING one Brexit minister might be classed as misfortune, to lose two is carelessness – to paraphrase Oscar Wilde – but that was exactly the position Theresa May found herself in yesterday when Dominic Raab resigned.
He became the second Brexit minister to quit since the role was created in July 2016, when she became Prime Minister.
Esther McVey then signalled that she would be leaving her role in the Department of Work and Pensions over May’s proposed Brexit deal.
The departures of Raab and McVey through the Downing Street revolving door, coupled with those of other junior figures yesterday, added to the growing tally who have left their posts since the 2017 General Election.
Here is list of the former members of May’s government – which was correct as we went to press:
Michael Fallon
He resigned as defence secretary on November 1 last year after being caught up in Westminster sleaze allegations.
Fallon said that his behaviour towards women in the past had “fallen below the high standards required” of the armed forces, with “what might have been acceptable 15, 10 years ago not acceptable now”.
Priti Patel
She quit her post as international development secretary a week later over undisclosed and unauthorised meetings she had in Israel, including with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Damian Green
He resigned as First Secretary of State in the Cabinet last December after an investigation found that he had made “inaccurate and misleading” statements regarding pornography found on his computer.
Justine Greening
She was sacked in the Prime Minister’s reshuffle just eight days into the New Year after she refused to move from her education post to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Amber Rudd
She resigned as Home Secretary back in April after admitting that she had “inadvertently” misled MPs over the existence of targets for removing illegal immigrants over the Windrush scandal.
David Davis and Boris Johnson
Respectively the Brexit and foreign secretaries. Both men quit their ministerial posts within a matter of hours of each other in July because of May’s Chequers plan for Brexit.
Tracey Crouch
She resigned as sports and civil society minister at the beginning of November following a row about delays in cutting the maximum stake for fixed-odds betting terminals.
Jo Johnson, brother of Boris
Left his role as transport minister on November 9, because of Brexit. Johnson demanded a second Brexit referendum because, he said, May was leading the country towards a “terrible mistake”.
Shailesh Vara
He quit yesterday as Northern Ireland minister, saying he could not support May’s Brexit agreement which “leaves the UK in a halfway house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation”.
Dominic Raab
Resigned as the government’s second Brexit Secretary yesterday, saying he “cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU”.
Esther McVey
The Work and Pensions Secretary followed suit, soon after Raab. She said the Brexit deal “does not honour the result of the referendum”.
Suella Braverman
Resigned as a Brexit under-secretary, saying that she was “unable to sincerely support the deal agreed yesterday by Cabinet”.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
She was a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Education and was one of yesterday’s resignations, saying she had done so because she was unable to support May’s Brexit deal after negotiations which were “built on the UK trying to appease the EU”.
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