Amber Rudd Resigns From Cabinet And Quits Conservative Party

The former home secretary, who stepped down following the Windrush scandal, was dogged by questions throughout the Tory leadership contest about whether she could serve in Johnson’s cabinet if he won the race, given his strategy would involve keeping no-deal on the table during further negotiations with Brussels.

She accepted the offer of continuing in her job as work and pensions secretary when Johnson formed his cabinet in July.

But in her letter of resignation, the now independent MP said that while she had accepted the need to keep no-deal as an option, she said she “no longer believed leaving with a deal is the government’s main objective”.

Issuing forthright criticism of Johnson, she called his decision to sack Tory rebels – such as ex-chancellor Philip Hammond, Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames and Ken Clarke, the longest serving MP in the commons – an “assault on decency and democracy”.

Rudd, who was also minister for disabled people, added: “This short-sighted culling of my colleagues has stripped the party of broad-minded and dedicated Conservative MPs. I cannot support this act of political vandalism.

“Therefore, it is with regret that I am also surrendering the Conservative whip.”

Rudd has represented her constituency since 2010 and has one of the smallest majorities in the country, with only 346 votes separating her from her Labour rival in 2017.