A Conservative peer advising Liz Truss in the Foreign Office has been forced to resign after a scathing attack on Boris Johnson.
Former City banker and Brexiteer Baroness Helena Morrissey, the lead non-executive director of the department, has quit after suggesting the prime minister should step down as he is “in the wrong job”.
It’s the latest fall-out from the partygate scandal, and follows Johnson surviving a confidence vote despite 148 Tory MPs demanding he go.
Morrissey told Andrew Marr on LBC Radio on Tuesday: “Wavering MPs, when they saw the booing of the prime minister outside St Paul’s, they would see that he had actually become a liability rather than an asset.”
Asked whether she wanted Johnson “to carry on as prime minister”, she replied: “In all honesty, I would rather he didn’t.”
She added: “I don’t see any contrition.
“He said, ‘we will bash on’. That’s not what we want to hear. Tax cuts one minute after we’ve raised them, that’s not going to help.”
She said she hoped that Johnson would be able to “go with dignity”, adding: “He’s a very talented person, he’s just in the wrong job.”
A source close to Truss told The Times: “Liz thought (Morrissey’s) comments about the PM were ridiculous. She had to go, which is very sad.”
Johnson was booed by a crowd on Friday as he arrived for a special Jubilee service of thanksgiving for the Queen.
The jeers were captured live on TV, as the prime minister walked up the steps of the cathedral with his wife Carrie.
The pressure is still on Johnson as he faces two crunch by-elections later this month, as well as a parliamentary inquiry into whether he lied to parliament.
He is now trying reassert his authority over the Tory party after surviving Monday’s confidence vote where the revolt amounted to 41% of his MPs.
He promised new measures to boost home ownership and defended his record in office as he faced MPs on Wednesday for the first time since the vote.