Sterling is remaining relatively flat this morning, despite the latest Brexit shenanigans. It's up 0.03% against the euro at €1.1314 and 0.18% higher against the dollar at $1.3311.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said: "It is odd the pound is in a decent mood, given that the ‘soft’ Brexit plan agreed at Chequers is arguably in doubt following Davis’ disappearing act. Yet his resignation does potentially make it easier to implement said ‘soft’ Brexit, dependent on how the next couple of hours and days pan out for PM May."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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David Davis is keeping schtum on whether any other members of the Cabinet will be following him out the door.

He tells the Today programme: "It is not for me to make other people's decisions. These decisions are very, very hard to make. They have consequences, career-ending consequences and the simple truth is people can only make these decisions of conscience, decisions of principal by themselves in their owns minds."

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Miners are leading the FTSE 100 charge this morning.

Antofagasta is the biggest riser in the blue chip index, up 2.73% to 969.70, while Melrose has climbed 2.45% to 213.20.

Meanwhile BHP Billiton is up 2.32% to 1,702.

The FTSE 100 is up 0.44% at 7,651.51.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Commenting on why he resigned, former Brexit Secretary David Davis tells the Today programme: "I had to leave not because I lost the argument...well, of course I lost the argument in Cabinet but the important thing here is that in my view this policy has got a number of weaknesses."

He says: "I would be front and centre in delivering this policy, explaining it to the house, persuading the house it was right and then going out and delivering it with the European Union and frankly, just as it was known what the policy was, it was also known that I had concerns about it. It would not have been a plausible thing to do and I wouldn't have done a good job at it."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Why did David Davis wait until Sunday to resign? Why not go before the key Cabinet meeting on Friday?

He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This was a matter that required very careful thought. I first discussed this with the Prime Minister - the policy - on Monday of last week. As I said I was not at all happy with it but I'd like to read the policy document. We did that on Wednesday midday. [I] wrote to her saying 'these are the issues I think are problematic' and then we had our debate on Friday.

"Of course, I didn't know what the outcome of the debate would be on Friday."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

David Davis, who has resigned as Brexit Secretary, tells the BBC's Today programme that he had already told Theresa May that he wouldn't support the deal for further UK-EU relations after Brexit before his resignation last night.

"When we debated this at Cabinet on Friday, my opening remark to Theresa was 'Prime Minster you know I'm going to be the odd man out on this' and she knew that because I'd written to her earlier in the week."

Image source, AFP

Shares in Mothercare tumbled 12.59% in early trading after the struggling retailer announced that it would shut 60 stores, instead of the 50 sites it initially earmarked for closure.

Its stock fell to 25p.

The FTSE 100 opened up 18.52 points, or 0.24% higher, at 7,636.22.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 added 68.80, or 0.33%, to 20,687.14.

Mothercare is a major exporter - it has 1,100 shops across 50 countries so what does chief executive Mark Newton-Jones think about Brexit Secretary David Davis' resignation?

He says: "We all need stability, to plan you need stability. At the moment we don't seem to have that, particularly after last night's announcement, it is more uncertainty and I don't think it matters whether you're in government or in business, you need clarity and that can give you a clear direction.

"At the moment, clearly we're drifting a little so the sooner we have affirmation of what the future looks like, the better."

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Shareholders in Stobart Group - which owns Southend and Carlise airports - voted to re-elect the company's former chief executive Andrew Tinkler as a director last week, but the board has blocked the appointment.

Mr Tinkler was fired from the board in June after he pushed for the removal of the company's chairman, Iain Ferguson.

Mr Ferguson said in a statement this morning, external: "The board maintains the view that, notwithstanding the support of certain shareholders, given the seriousness of his breach of fiduciary duty and the impending court cases against him, it would not be in the best interests of the company for him to act as a director."

He added: "We will be making further board appointments to support the delivery of the next phase of the group's strategy. We have identified an excellent female candidate as a non-executive director and we will recruit a chief financial officer to replace Richard Laycock, who has stepped down from the board."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, AFP

Mothercare's chief executive Mark Newton-Jones admits that the retailer has had a troubled decade.

He tells BBC Rado 4's Today programme: "In terms of reinventing and transforming the business, the UK had lacked investment so for the best part of a decade the business hadn't even had a lick of paint in the UK so it was really left behind and hadn't modernised as a retailer."

He says: "What we set out to do three and a half, four years ago is to invest and to modernise.

"The shareholders supported us then, they're supporting us again now and we'll really be able to speed up the transformation and by God, we do need to speed up the transformation because the UK retail landscape is pretty brutal at the moment."

There's a mixed bag in today's business sections.

The FT's Companies & Markets section leads on: "Top US banks relying on tax cuts to deliver profits boost". The paper says all will be revealed on Friday when JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo kick off the second-quarter results season.

The Times is back on the story of continuing criticism of accountants. It says: "Big Four are told to loosen grip on audits".

Meanwhile The Guardian reports: "Murdoch expected to be given green light for takeover of Sky".

Image source, AFP

Commenting on its outlook, Mothercare said: "Current trading continues to follow the patterns seen in the second half of the last financial year, with challenging conditions in the UK and some stability visible in our International operations."

Interim executive chairman Clive Whiley, said: "When I joined the business just three months ago, Mothercare faced a bleak future with growing and pressing financial stresses upon the business.

"We have worked tirelessly as a team to get to where we are today and this fully underwritten equity issue marks the end of this initial phase, returning the group to financial stability."

Image source, Getty Images

Mothercare also announced that it planned to tap its investors for £32.5m through a share placing.

The retailer said that following a company voluntary arrangement, it will close 60 UK stores - putting 900 jobs at risk - and keep 77 shops, 19 of which will be on a reduced rental basis.

Image source, Getty Images

In a slightly unusual move Marks & Spencer has decided to skip its usual trading update when it meets shareholders at its annual general meeting tomorrow.

The reason? It will be the first AGM under the retailer's new chairman, Archie Norman, who was parachuted in last year to lead a turnaround of the business and he apparently wants to take a more long-term view of the embattled business.

Clive Black, retail analyst at Shore Capital, said it was "relatively unusual" for a company not to update the market on trading at its AGM, but that there was no requirement for M&S to do so."

But Richard Hyman, an independent retail analyst, said: "If they had good news, they would probably want to share it."

The AGM is being held at Wembley Stadium at 11am on Tuesday 10 July.

Mothercare, the mother and baby retailer, has announced that it will close 10 more of its stores.

The company announced last month that it would shut 50 shops. But in an announcement this morning it said it would shut more of its sites.