Boris Johnson resigns over Brexit deal, the third minister in 24 hours
LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has resigned, making him the third minister in 24 hours to walk out of the government rather than back Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan.
Mrs May hammered out a compromise with her deeply divided Cabinet in an all-day meeting at Chequers, the country house of the Prime Minister, last Friday, but after consulting friends and allies, Mr Johnson decided he could not promote the deal, The Guardian reported.
A Downing Street spokesman said yesterday: "This afternoon, the Prime Minister accepted the resignation of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. His replacement will be announced shortly.
"The Prime Minister thanks Boris for his work."
Mr David Davis resigned as Brexit secretary on Sunday, AFP reported. British media reported that junior Brexit minister Steve Baker also stepped down.
"The general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one," Mr Davis said in a letter to Mrs May.
He said the plan would "make the supposed control by Parliament illusory rather than real".
He was particularly critical of the proposal for a "common rulebook" to allow free trade in goods, saying this "hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense".
"I am also unpersuaded that our negotiating approach will not just lead to further demands for concessions," he said, concluding that his former position required "an enthusiastic believer in your approach and not merely a reluctant conscript".
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