More from the new chancellor now. It's been reported that Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson clashed over economic policy, and particularly cutting taxes.

Asked on Sky News about his vision for corporation tax, Zahawi says "nothing is off the table".

"I will look at everything. There's nothing off the table. I want to be one of the most competitive countries in the world for investment.

"I know that boards around the world, when they make investment decisions, they're long-term, and the one tax they can compare globally is corporation tax. I want to make sure that we are as competitive as we can be whilst maintaining fiscal discipline."

Corporation tax is due to rise from 19% to 25% in April next year under plans announced by Sunak in last year's budget.

New chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has been telling BBC Breakfast that he’s looking forward to his first full day of work and says his focus is around rebuilding the economy.

He says we've delivered today, the biggest personal tax cut in a decade - £330 pounds for 30 million people - that's a good start".

He also thanked Rishi Sunak for everything he’s done.

Business leaders have been reacting to the resignations with many thanking Rishi Sunak for helping them survive during the height of the pandemic.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said there were "many thousands of hospitality businesses and millions of workers in the sector" who owe the former chancellor "a huge debt of gratitude" for the support provided to them.

Mr Sunak's signature policy, the furlough scheme, succeeded in its primary aim of preventing mass and long-term unemployment from pandemic lockdowns.

Elsewhere Tony Danker said Mr Sunak "stood by every business" during the pandemic as he praised the appointment of his successor Nadhim Zahawi.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just been on BBC Breakfast.

She says “it’s increasingly clear... that this prime minister can no longer provide the leadership that the country desperately needs”.

Under Johnson, she says, "Britain is stuck, the economy is the weakest it has been for some time, growth is expected next year to be the lowest in the G20, except for Russia."

She says the economy is not working, adding "it is time for a fresh start. Labour are ready to provide that leadership”.

When asked about Johnson’s bullish mood to continue, she says hundreds of Tory councillors lost their seats in the recent local elections and the fact that the Tory's lost two recent by-elections show “the country is crying out for change”.

She welcomes the fact some ministers have resigned but asks, “what has taken them so long?”

Boris Johnson is "on the brink".

These words appear in a number of headlines this morning, including the Times and the Guardian, after yesterday's resignations.

This story dominates the morning papers' news agenda. The Mirror says it's the "endgame" for Mr Johnson, the Daily Telegraph reports that he is "hanging by a thread" while the Daily Mail asks whether he can "wriggle out of this?".

Meanwhile, the Daily Express's take on the prime minister's battle for survival is that he said he is now free to cut taxes.

Read the newspaper review in full here., external

Next up, it's Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, and he's told BBC Breakfast the PM “really must go”.

Davey says the Conservatives must do their "patriotic duty" and "get rid" of Boris Johnson.

He says that when the Lib Dems beat the Tories in the recent Tiverton and Honiton by-election it was very clear that lifelong Conservative voters were fed up, not just of Johnson, but of the whole party.

He also accused the Tories of not having a serious economic plan for the country during a cost-of-living crisis, adding that the Lib Dems have been championing tax cuts, particularly on VAT.

Image source, Conservative Party

We promised you a busy round of morning interviews, and first up, it's Bim Afolami.

He quit as Tory vice-chair live on TV last night, and has been speaking to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning about why he decided to step down.

He says he voted for the PM in the recent confidence vote because Johnson convinced him he had earned the right to rebuild trust in him after Partygate.

But Afolami says over the last few weeks things haven’t improved - “they’ve got a lot worse”.

He says the behaviour of Downing Street over the Chris Pincher affair was “really appalling” and he says he doesn’t think he could “defend that behaviour any longer”.

He says he didn't speak to anybody before making his decision to quit.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Boris Johnson is going nowhere - if it's up to him.

Sources close to the PM have told me this morning that he plans to carry on - and is determined to deliver what he promised people at the last general election.

They argue he has a mandate from that election which means he can stay in office, despite yesterday’s turmoil.

But the mood in the Conservative Party is what is going to matter now. Could more ministers decide the game is up and quit? And is the prime minister going to face another confidence vote – and be forced out?

The 1922 Committee oversees confidence votes. It is electing its executive in the next few days and that vote has become a proxy for questions over the prime minister’s leadership.

The PM’s critics are growing in confidence that they can force through a rule change – and perhaps a vote before the summer break starts in a fortnight.

The PM is staying put this morning. But ultimately, it’s not just a decision for him.

Image source, Getty Images

This was the scene at cabinet yesterday - the prime minister’s team looks a little different today.

Rishi Sunak has gone - Nadhim Zahawi is the new chancellor. Michelle Donelan steps into Zahawi’s vacated post as education secretary.

And Sajid Javid will no longer take a seat at the table - Steve Barclay takes over as health secretary.

A number of parliamentary private secretaries, the solicitor general , vice-chair of the Conservative Party for youth, and a couple of trade envoys have also quit.

But the vast majority of those in Johnson’s cabinet remain in place, including key figures like Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Deputy PM Dominic Raab.

It's Wednesday, so at midday Boris Johnson will face MPs from all sides of the House at Prime Minister's Questions.

But before that, there's the usual round of morning interviews - and it's a pretty big round today.

We’re expecting to hear from the new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi - we’ll bring you all the details of what he has to say.

Other guests speaking to the BBC include Bim Afolami who quit as Tory vice-chair live on TV and Andrew Murrison who resigned as trade envoy.

We’re also expecting to hear from Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Stay with us for full coverage.

Over the last few days, questions have been swirling around Westminster over how much Boris Johnson knew about previous allegations of sexual misconduct by his former deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher.

Since Friday, No 10 has changed its line on what the prime minister knew.

Under significant pressure to set the record straight, Johnson appeared in a short clip at 18:00 last night, saying he "bitterly regretted" giving Pincher a government role.

But that was quickly overshadowed, as within 15 minutes his health secretary and then chancellor resigned.

Johnson's future is far from securepublished at 06:15 British Summer Time 6 July 2022

06:15 BST 6 July 2022

Chris Mason
Political editor

Boris Johnson is braced for more resignations this morning, perhaps not from the cabinet but the next rung down of the ministerial ladder.

For a little while last night, after two cabinet minister quit, Westminster wondered what might happen next – and so did the prime minister.

Not in control of events, ringing around the rest of his cabinet to work out if they were still with him.

They were, and the moment of greatest jeopardy for him passed - for now at least.

A smattering of more junior resignations did follow, but there's a defiance from his team.

They highlight their mandate from the electorate at the last election, despite the anger and anguish among many Conservative MPs.

But what might Rishi Sunak or Sajid Javid say or do next?

Discontent on the backbenches, already considerable, is rising further, with some hoping to change the rules so the Prime Minister has to face another vote of confidence.

Boris Johnson's future is far from secure.

The PM has a busy day ahead of him, first with PMQs at midday as normal and then a session in front of the Liaison Committee , externalthis afternoon, where he is due to be questioned by senior backbenchers on government policy and decision making.

It’s expected he will be asked about recent events surrounding the appointment of MP Chris Pincher as well as ethics in government.

Image source, Victoria Jones

He came to the UK as a refugee from Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

And Nadhim Zahawi has now been named as the UK government's chancellor of the exchequer in an emergency reshuffle.

So what do we know about the man who will replace Rishi Sunak?

Born in Iraq in 1967, Zahawi could easily have been sent to fight in the 1980s Iran-Iraq War.

Instead, he and his parents were forced to flee Iraq in 1976 - after coming under threat when Saddam Hussein came to power.

So Zahawi grew up in Sussex, attending private and comprehensive schools.

Then, as he was heading to university, disaster struck and the family "lost everything" except their brown Vauxhall car when his father's business venture failed.

Zahawi's mother pawned her jewellery so her son could go to university.

After studying chemical engineering at University College London, Zahawi set up a firm selling Teletubbies merchandise - and attracted investment from the then-Conservative politician Jeffrey Archer.

Read more here

Andrew Murrison, who earlier resigned as Boris Johnson's trade envoy to Morocco, has told the BBC that "in all conscience" he could not carry on in the role with Johnson as PM.

He reiterates that what really "tipped it" for him was Lord McDonald's letter yesterday morning and that he felt that was the last straw.

"I think the prime minister's relationship with the truth is not what I would expect from the prime minister of this country," he tells the BBC, noting that that had been the concern of many people he had spoken to during recent by-election and local government election campaigns.

He goes on to say that resigning is a difficult thing to do because one's instinct is always to be loyal to your leader, but, he says, he couldn't "stick it any longer".

"My message to Boris would be: For goodness sake, go now, you've done some good things as prime minister and you should be proud of those, and you need to depart with some sense of honour, that means going now."

Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine says he does not "think there is any recovery" for Boris Johnson.

Speaking on BBC's Newsnight, the Tory grandee compared the departures of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid to the resignation of Geoffrey Howe - whose exit as deputy prime minister is considered to have precipitated Margaret Thatcher stepping down as premier three weeks later.

Lord Heseltine, who served in cabinets under Sir John Major and Thatcher, says: "It is a matter of trust, can you trust the British prime minister?

"And a very large number of people - not just in this country, not just in the Conservative Party, but across the world - have read the rooms.

"They know he will say whatever suits him regardless of whether it was true or not..."

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd has backed Boris Johnson following today's shock cabinet resignations.

But the PM needs to prove he can "deliver on his mandate", added Andrew RT Davies in a series of tweets this evening.

Davies said the government had "struggled" to deliver on its promises, which had been "disappointing".

He added it was "essential for the prime minister to hold the confidence of our country, party and parliament".

We've heard a lot tonight about what Sunak and Javid's resignations mean for the PM's future.

But the news has also had an impact on Britain's currency, which has hit a two-year low.

The pound is nearing its lowest level against the dollar since the onset of the pandemic.

The pound-dollar pair held a decline of 1.4% straight after the news emerged on Tuesday evening, according to Bloomberg.

It had earlier dropped as much as 1.8% to 1.1899 - the lowest since March 2020.

Conservative minister Jacob Rees-Mogg - one of Boris Johnson's allies - said the best politicians "carry on calmly".

Image source, PA MEDIA

Angela Rayner, Labour deputy, has called on the remaining cabinet ministers to resign "and do the right thing by the British public".

She said "some cabinet members have suddenly found a conscience... the rest of them need to go now".

"It's pretty obvious that Boris Johnson is not fit to be prime minister," she says, adding "he should have gone a long time ago".

"The Conservative Party should be ashamed that they have propped him up for as long as they have done."