Four senior aides to Boris Johnson resign from No 10
Four senior aides to Boris Johnson have resigned from Downing Street within hours of each other amid growing pressure on the prime minister.
Director of communications Jack Doyle confirmed his exit shortly after the departure of policy head Munira Mirza.
They were followed on Thursday by chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and senior civil servant Martin Reynolds.
The top aides' resignations came as Mr Johnson faces increasing questions over his leadership from within his party.
Mr Doyle told staff that "recent weeks have taken a terrible toll on my family life", but that he had always intended to leave after two years.
A statement from a No 10 spokeswoman said Mr Rosenfield had offered his resignation to the prime minister earlier on Thursday, but would stay on while his successor was found.
A number of MPs supportive of the prime minister have been tweeting praise, suggesting Mr Johnson was responsible for making necessary staff changes following a damning report by civil servant Sue Gray into rule-breaking parties in No 10 during the pandemic.
However, Ms Mirza quit over the PM's false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions, and his refusal to apologise.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak publicly distanced himself from the PM's original comment, saying: "Being honest, I wouldn't have said it."
And asked if Mr Johnson should apologise, he said: "That's for the prime minister to decide."
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "With [Mr Johnson's] senior advisers and aides quitting, perhaps it is finally time for him to look in the mirror and consider if he might just be the problem."
'Total meltdown'
The chief of staff, the chief of communications, the official who runs the prime minister's private office, and his policy chief - all gone. A quartet of departures from Number 10.
In the words of one senior backbencher, not just a nightmare on Downing Street, but a total meltdown.
Yet two different things happened on a turbulent day. The first three paid the price for the fiasco over lockdown gatherings - one sending the invite to the garden drinks, the other two crafting Boris Johnson's bungled response to weeks of damaging claims.
Boris Johnson's backers claim it's evidence that he'll keep his vow - 'I get it, I will fix it' - that Number 10 can become the home to a new and improved operation.
The resignation of Munira Mirza is of a very different order. For more than 10 years she's been one of Boris Johnson's true political friends - described as 'Boris' brain' by one former colleague, an ally of ideas.
Source: BBC
