Welsh and Northern Ireland Secretaries among latest to walk away from Boris Johnson's Government

The Welsh Secretary Simon Hart has become one of the latest Tory MPs to walk away from Boris Johnson's Government.

The Prime Minister has so far refused to give up his role, in spite of the number of resignations running at more than 40.

The Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has also resigned this morning, saying the government is not upholding values of 'honesty, integrity and mutual respect'.

The Treasury Secretary Helen Whatley has also stepped down this morning.

In his letter of resignation the former Welsh Secretary praised the PM's "energy, vision, determination and humour" but said he felt there was "no other option" but to step down.

"No other option"

In his letter, Mr Hart said he had "desperately hoped" to avoid writing the letter but that there "seems no other option left but to step down from my role as Secretary of State for Wales."

He went on to say he "had never been a massive fan of Ministerial resignations being the best means of forcing change" but that no more could be done to "turn the ship around".

The Prime Minister has faced multiple resignations after Downing Street admitted he had known about allegations of inappropriate behaviour against MP Chris Pincher, before he was appointed as Deputy Chief Whip in February.

Michael Gove is understood to have been one of the first serving Cabinet members to tell Mr Johnson it was time for him to quit.

That was followed by a delegation of Cabinet ministers going to No 10 to tell Mr Johnson he should stand down after losing the trust of his MPs.

But Boris Johnson told a group of MPs yesterday that it'd be 'irresponsible' to walk away now.

The Labour MP for Rhondda, Chris Bryant sits on that committee. He said it was an odd experience given the political storm that was raging:

"It felt surreal because we were talking about questions and he was saying things like, I'll get back to you next week on that, and I was thinking well you're not going to be getting back to anybody. Not least because some of us could look at our phones and we could see what was going on outside."

"Complicit"

But Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said the resignations did not show integrity but self-preservation:

"It's clear that the end has come for Boris Johnson.

"Simon Hart, Fay Jones, Craig Williams, James Davies and others have jumped on the resignation bandwagon at the last moment, abandoning the ship after it had well and truly already sunk in an attempt to save their carers within the Conservative Party.

"This is far from the first time the integrity and truthfulness of Boris Johnson has been questioned, yet only now do they seem to have found their supposed voice and backbone.

“The fact remains that Simon Hart and most Welsh Conservative MPs supported Boris Johnson and this Government throughout all of its scandals, embarrassments and incompetence, only deciding not to do so when it became clear it would affect their careers within the Conservative Party.

"Voters know that in turning a blind eye to all that went wrong during the last three years of Johnson’s premiership, they have been complicit."