Brexit: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson resigns just before PM’s address to Parliament

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson resigned on Monday, half an hour before Prime Minister Theresa May’s address to Parliament about her new Brexit plan. Johnson’s resignation came hours after Brexit Secretary David Davis quit.

The British government thanked Johnson for his work and said a replacement would be announced shortly. Johnson had earlier described attempts to convince Parliament about May’s plan as “polishing a turd”, The Guardian reported.

After Davis’ resignation, the government had appointed a pro-Brexit MP and former housing minister Dominic Raab to replace him. “The general direction of policy will leave us in, at best, a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one,” Davis told May in his resignation letter.

Davis’ resignation came just two days after May held a crisis meeting with her ministers to overcome the deep divisions over Britain’s exit from the European Union. The move was praised by campaigners in May’s Conservative Party, who felt her plan to press for the closest possible trading ties with the bloc is against their desire for a clean break with the European Union.

Davis’ junior ministers Steve Baker and Suella Braverman also resigned on Monday.