Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew quits minister role as he blasts Boris Johnson
He said the Conservative Party and the UK 'deserve better' and he can no longer 'defend the indefensible'
West Yorkshire MP Stuart Andrew has become the latest Government minister to resign from his post today (July 6) over Boris Johnson's leadership. The 50-year-old who represents Pudsey joins a raft of Conservative colleagues including Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid who have all quit their positions over the past 24 hours.
The resignations come after the Prime Minister admitted he was aware of concerns about Tory MP Chris Pincher's past behaviour before appointing him to ministerial roles. Last week, Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip over allegations he groped two men in a London club.
Initially, Downing Street had denied Mr Johnson had been aware of the concerns around Mr Pincher. However, it has since been confirmed that he had been aware.
Mr Andrew, who was Housing Minister, said that he could no longer “defend the indefensible” and could no longer support the Prime Minister, saying that the Tory Party and UK deserved better. His resignation follows 18 others since yesterday (July 5) evening when Mr Javid's decision to quit as Health Secretary sparked an avalanche of departures.
Many Tories have been left unhappy and angered over Mr Johnson's leadership which has been involved in several scandals including Partygate. However, he survived a vote of confidence on his leadership last month, although rumours are circling Westminster saying he might face another ballot soon if party rules are changed.
Mr Stuart tweeted his letter of resignation that he sent to the PM. In it, he said: “It is with real sadness that I write to tender my resignation from HM Government.
“I have been honoured to serve in a number of roles within government over the past few years, most recently as the Minister for Housing. This is a role, although having only been in post for six months, I have enjoyed immensely and I’m grateful to have been supported by a superb team, both in my private office and the wider civil service, within the department.
“There is so much you have achieved and which I admire. Brexit led to a complete stalemate in Parliament and your leadership in resolving that was no mean feat but you managed it following a hugely successful general election. The pandemic followed, and the swift financial response provided to so many households gave the reassurance they needed at an incredibly worrying time and the rollout of the vaccine enabled our country to get back to work with confidence. Now we face a proud independent country being threatened by an aggressive neighbour and again your response to the situation has been excellent.
“Loyalty and unity are traits that I have always endeavoured to provide for our great party. However, I fear I have let these override my judgement recently. There comes a time when you have to look at your own personal integrity and that time is now. Therefore, given recent events I have no other choice than to resign.
“Our party, particularly our members and more importantly our great country, deserve better. Having a marginal seat I have seen the huge sacrifice our members make in volunteering considerable hours to campaign on our behalf and I cannot, in all good conscience, tolerate them having to defend the indefensible.”
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