Boris Johnson news – live: PM knew ‘first-hand account’ of allegations against Pincher before promoting him

More Cabinet ministers will resign and Boris Johnson “will be shown the door”, Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has said.

“I guess they [Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid] finally got where much of the party got weeks if not months ago, that we just can’t carry on like this,” he told the PA news agency.

“What a shambles. It has been a shambles.”

Asked what he thinks prompted Mr Javid and Mr Sunak to resign, Mr Bridgen said: “The Pincher situation and the prime minister shown to have been lying again.”

Sir Keir Starmer has called on members of the Cabinet to resign in response to Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, as described the Tory Party as “tearing itself apart today”.

Speaking to journalists shortly before news of Rishi Sunak’s resignation broke, the Labour leader said those remain in the Cabinet would be “nodding dogs” if they did not quit.

“What we’re seeing this week is a repeat of what we’ve seen so many times, which is government ministers going out onto the airwaves, giving answers to questions, and no sooner have they finished the media round that the answers they’ve given aren’t accurate because the prime minister and No 10 haven’t been straight with them,” he said.

“That is not this week’s story, although it is this week’s story, it’s every week’s story. It’s on repeat, which is why you see the Conservative Party tearing itself apart today. Should his Cabinet members make sure he leaves office, yes they should. It’s their responsibility, in the national interest, to remove him from office.

“They know what he’s like, he’s said that he’s psychologically incapable of changing, and therefore they have to do what’s in the national interest and remove him.”

He continued: “They should resign, or force him to resign. They have to step up in the national interest now, otherwise they are nodding dogs in this. I would say to them directly: act in the national interest and resign.”

As speculation swirls around Boris Johnson’s future, sources close to various Cabinet ministers have said that they will remain loyal to the prime minister.

An ally of foreign secretary Liz Truss, viewed as a potential leadership candidate, said she was “100% behind the PM’’.

A source close to Ben Wallace, who has also been tipped as a potential successor to Mr Johnson, told the PA news agency that the defence secretary “is not resigning”, while an ally of Priti Patel said: “She’s staying”

A spokesperson for Dominic Raab is reported to have told Sky News that the justice secretary “is loyal to the PM”.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Alister Jack are also staying, Sky’s Tom Larkin reports.

A Treasury source has claimed that Rishi Sunak only found about about Sajid Javid’s resignation after he had submitted his own, indicating that their actions were not coordinated, ITV’s Robert Peston reports.

You can watch Boris Johnson’s apology over his handling of allegations against Chris Pincher here:

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has more on the prime minister’s televised apology, news of which was quickly dwarfed by the double resignations of two key members of his Cabinet.

Labour’s deputy leader has asked whether it is time to wheel the No 10 lectern out.

Here’s the damning verdict from one Cabinet minister on the double resignation, according to Sky News:

“Boris will have to go now. It doesn’t matter what the rest of us do. Once you lose your chancellor and health secretary it’s all over.”

Rishi Sunak has gone now too.

The chancellor said: “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.

“I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”

Dodging the question on whether he did say “Pincher by name, pincher by nature”, Boris Johnson said: “What I can tell you is that, if I look at the background of this and why I regret it so much, is that about three years ago there was a complaint made against Chris Pincher in the Foreign Office, the complaint was cleared up, he apologised.

“It was raised with me, orally, I was briefed on what had happened. If I had my time again I would think back on it and recognise that he wasn’t going to learn a lesson and he wasn’t going to change and I regret that.”