Four senior aides to Boris Johnson have resigned from Downing Street within hours of each other amid growing pressure on the prime minister.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing increasing questions over his leadership from within his party. Photo: AFP
Director of communications Jack Doyle confirmed his exit shortly after the departure of policy head Munira Mirza.
They were followed by the chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and senior civil servant Martin Reynolds.
The top aides' resignations come as Johnson faces increasing questions over his leadership from within his party.
Doyle told staff that "recent weeks have taken a terrible toll on my family life", but that he had always intended to leave after two years.
A statement from a No 10 spokeswoman said Rosenfield had offered his resignation to the prime minister earlier on Thursday, but would stay on while his successor was found.
Reynolds - who was the principal private secretary to the prime minister - will do the same, but then return to a role at the Foreign Office.
A number of MPs supportive of the prime minister have been tweeting praise, suggesting Mr Johnson was responsible for making necessary staff changes following a damning report by civil servant Sue Gray into rule breaking parties in No 10 during the pandemic.
However, Mirza quit over the prime minister's false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions, and his refusal to apologise.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak publicly distanced himself from the prime minister's original comment, saying: "Being honest, I wouldn't have said it."
And asked if Johnson should apologise, he said: "That's for the prime minister to decide."
The wave of resignations comes at a tumultuous time for Boris Johnson as backbench unrest is growing within the Conservative Party.
The BBC is aware of 17 Tory MPs who have submitted letters of no confidence in the prime minister, with a total of 54 needed to trigger a leadership contest.
Many have cited the PM's participation in parties with staff in No 10 during lockdowns as their motivation to challenge Johnson.
These gatherings included a "bring your own booze" garden party in May 2020 - the email invite to which was sent by Reynolds.
The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into 12 of the parties and a full report by Ms Gray is expected to be published afterwards.
Other MPs have pointed to the PM's remark about Sir Keir as one of their reasons for writing a letter, including senior backbencher and defence committee chair Tobias Ellwood.
By Thursday, Johnson appeared to have backed down, telling reporters he had not been talking about Sir Keir's "personal record" when he was DPP, adding: "I totally understand that he had nothing to do personally with those decisions."
But in her resignation letter, published by The Spectator, Mirza said the PM should have apologised for the misleading remarks.
Savile was revealed to be a serial sexual abuser after his death in 2011, having attacked hundreds of women and children at various locations including hospitals, schools and the BBC.
- BBC