Johnson sacks Gove as levelling up secretary Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has been sacked. This was first reported by the BBC, and has been confirmed by the Guardian. Labour MP Jess Phillips reacts to the attorney general’s comments about putting her hat in the ring if there is a leadership contest. Margot James, a former minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has criticised the prime minister’s decision to sack Michael Gove. Here are those quotes from Suella Braverman MP saying Johnson’s time is up, which are now trending on Twitter. Attorney general joins calls for Johnson to resign Suella Braverman, the attorney general, says there is an overwhelming sense of despair among Conservative MPs and “the time has come for the PM to step down”. She told the Peston programme on ITV it is “untenable” for him to continue as leader. Braverman added she would not be resigning because of her duty to her role but acknowledged that Johnson might sack her and said that, if there was a leadership contest, “I will put my hat in the ring.” The front page of Thursday’s Guardian. Edward Argar becomes latest minister to resign Edward Argar, minister of state for health, has also handed in his resignation. In the wake of Michael Gove’s sacking, Boris Johnson’s allies reportedly described him as a “snake”. Conservative MP Tim Loughton compared Boris Johnson’s PPS James Duddridge to the former Iraqi propaganda chief known as Comical Ali, as he said the “game is up” for the prime minister. The East Worthing and Shoreham MP told Sky News: “To be sent out by No 10 to give Comical Ali a run for his money is pretty poor and defending the indefensible. The game is up.” He said Johnson “will have to go one way or the other in the next few days” and that he cannot replace the vacancies left by ministers who have resigned “because frankly, I think he’d really struggle to find people that would now want to serve in his government”. Welsh secretary hands in resignation The Welsh secretary Simon Hart has become the latest cabinet member to resign in the past few minutes. The deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, made only a fleeting reference to events at Westminster during a speech at the lord mayor’s annual judges dinner at Mansion House, central London, this evening. There was plenty of speculation before his arrival as to whether Raab, appearing in his capacity as lord chancellor, would show up given the government’s travails and whether he would be acting prime minister by the time of his speech. In the event, there was no promotion and the only reference in his speech to dramas elsewhere was a reference to how his attendance was “a bit of light relief after the last 24 hours”. The most notable reaction to the speech came when someone booed when he expressed disappointment at the criminal barristers’ strike. Earlier in the evening, a formal prayer drew laughter from the distinguished attendees, when an invocation was made for “sound government”. Here is the full story on a dramatic day: Boris Johnson was locked in an unprecedented standoff with his own cabinet on Wednesday, as he clung to power after an extraordinary day that saw more than 40 resignations and the sacking of Michael Gove. The prime minister appeared determined to fight on, despite a delegation of senior cabinet ministers, including the home secretary, Priti Patel, and the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, personally urging him to resign. Instead of stepping down, Johnson responded by sacking Gove as levelling up secretary. Gove had earlier told the PM in a face-to-face meeting that he believed his position was unsustainable, given the number of MPs who had turned against him. A Downing Street source said: “He wants to stay and fight. The choice is a summer of navel-gazing and instability or a new partnership that finally moves forward and tackles the cost of living crisis and grows the economy. “It’s not quite as Doomsday as people were thinking a few hours ago.” Running total – 43 departures A total of 42 people have resigned from the government – with one more sacked – as things stand since Sajid Javid set the ball rolling at 18:02 yesterday by stepping down as health secretary. William Wragg, a Conservative MP and fierce Johnson critic, has pointed out that under the UK’s parliamentary democracy, voters gave the Conservative party a mandate in the 2019 election rather than handing Boris Johnson a personal one as he has claimed. Wragg tweeted: “A Constitutional Monarchy, not a Presidency. It is a shame to have to point out this principle.” James Daly MP resigns as parliamentary private secretary Bury North MP James Daly has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions stating he has “lost confidence” in the prime minister. In a letter to Boris Johnson, he wrote: “Due to recent events, it has become very clear that you are sadly unable to lead our Government and deliver on the policies that will change lives for the better and create opportunity for all. “As a result of the above, I have lost confidence in your leadership of our great party and therefore as outlined above I must resign.” Earlier I said that even ministers who want to shrink the size of government, like Jacob Rees-Mogg, would not want to run a government with 15 or so ministers missing. (See 2.55pm.) It seems I might have been wrong. This is from the Times’s Chris Smyth. That’s all from me for tonight. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is taking over now. Johnson to make "major appointments" to government tonight, ally claims James Duddridge, one of the Boris Johnson’s parliamentary private secretaries, has just given an interview to Jon Craig from Sky News. Here are the main points. Duddridge insisted that Johnson would be able to appoint new ministers to replace the ones who have resigned. “There are plenty of people keen, willing and able to serve and will do so under Boris Johnson,” he said. He said he expected some “major appointments” to be made tonight. But not all the appointments would be made tonight, he said. He hinted that Johnson would now be able to deliver tax cuts, and he said that would reassure Tories. He said the recent Tory byelection defeats just showed a return to “business as usual”. Governing parties normally lost byelections mid-term, he said. He also claimed “business as usual” was being carried out in No 10. He claimed that Johnson is “moving forward”. He said that he continued to support Johnson because Johnson had an “electoral magic” that made him right for the country and right for the party. Danny Kruger resigns as PPS to levelling up department, saying Johnson – not Gove – should go Following the sacking of Michael Gove, Danny Kruger has announced that he is resigning as a PPS in the levelling up department. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary and a diehard Johnson supporter, has posted a message on Twitter saying the PM’s priority “is to stablise the government”. Sacking the minister in charge of what is supposed to be the PM’s main domestic agenda (levelling up) is perhaps a strange way of going about this. But by “stabilise the government”, she could mean demand more loyalty. My colleague Rowena Mason has also heard No 10 briefing against Michael Gove.