Michael Fabricant says:  “I regret that Boris Johnson has had to stand down.  He had my support to the very end, but with so many resignations from the government and the haemorrhaging of confidence in him from within the wider Conservative Parliamentary Party, I can understand that he felt his position had become untenable.

“Boris is a visionary and I have no doubt that without him we would not have achieved Brexit, initiated the very first Covid public vaccine programme in the world, or been the very first country to supply arms to Ukraine ahead of the Russian invasion.  He has never been frightened of making tough and bold decisions.  He will be hard to replace.

“He is right to remain as Prime Minister until a successor is found.  Both the Labour and Conservative parties have done this in the past and I am sure that the ministerial vacancies that currently exist will now soon be filled.

“I hope that whoever replaces Boris as Prime Minister will share his vision for this country as a sovereign and independent nation while protecting the poor and encouraging wealth creation.

“Over the next couple of weeks, the Parliamentary Party will have to whittle down a list of names of those who wish to be the next Prime Minister; the top two names will then be forwarded to all long-standing Party Members for them to make a choice and a new Prime Minister will be chosen by October when the Conservative Party Conference will be held in Birmingham.  I hope that the transition will be smooth and without rancour.  It’s important that the country now moves on from this turbulent period.”