Since the start of Theresa May’s second ministry in 2017, she has shed ministers at a truly extraordinary rate. A few have left after allegations of misconduct, or for health reasons, but the overwhelming majority have been due to policy differences with the Government.
Barring the exception of James Brokenshire, who stepped aside temporarily and has since rejoined the Cabinet in another senior role, the Prime Minister has lost exactly 40 Secretaries of State, Ministers, and Parliamentary Private Secretaries since 2017. To this might be added Party Vice-Chairs, such as Ben Bradley and Maria Caulfield, who have also stepped aside.
As the first two ministers walk away from her over the decision to open Brexit talks with Jeremy Corbyn – and with up to 15 more rumoured to be ready to go – we thought we’d present the full list of resignations to date, which is at the bottom of this post.
2017 (4)
2018 (25)
2019 (12)