Sajid Javid has admitted that a senior Tory publicly urging Boris Johnson to quit has been “damaging”, as critics of the prime minister sought to maintain pressure on him after the embarrassing defection of a Conservative MP.
The health secretary said he wished the former Brexit secretary David Davis had not told Johnson at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday: “In the name of God, go.” The words echoed a plea made to the former wartime leader Neville Chamberlain in the Commons.
