Boris Johnson is attending the committee and has begun answering questions. Stay with us.

Image source, HOC

Image source, PA

It is, to say the least, a very busy day for the prime minister.

He's been receiving resignation letters from ministers and having to find their replacements, faced MPs at prime minister's questions – and he's now due in front of the Liaison Committee.

The Liaison Committee is a kind of super-committee made up of the MPs who chair all the other select committees (health, education, defence etc).

The sessions usually last for around two hours and give MPs the chance to question Boris Johnson on all sorts of issues.

The focus of this committee hearing is expected be on the impact of the war in Ukraine on the UK, the government's response to the rising cost of living, integrity in politics, and the rule of law.

On a rather frenetic day, Boris Johnson is due to face more questions from MPs shortly - this time from the Liaison Committee of select committee chairmen and women.

Chaired by Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, its job is to ask the PM questions about policy. It's due to get underway at 3pm.

We'll bring you full coverage of what happens - and you can watch it in the feed at the top of this page.

Here's more detail from Liam Fox, the former defence secretary who was previously loyal to Boris Johnson.

He says: "The events of recent days...have convinced me that unfortunately, you cannot continue to lead the Conservative Party and more importantly our country.

"We have lost too many good people from the government who could not reconcile their loyalty to you with their conscience. I share their feelings.

"Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that I am today withdrawing my support for you as I no longer have confidence in you as our leader. I urge you to do the right thing and resign."

Political correspondent Nick Eardley says former Defence Secretary Liam Fox is going to No 10 to tell the PM he must resign.

The veteran Conservative has just released a letter he's written to Boris Johnson withdrawing his support:

Mims Davies is the latest minister to quit. She was employment minister at the Department for Work and Pensions.

She says the Conservative Party "needs a fresh start and I can see no other way forward than this".

That takes the total ministers and aides who have quit to 27.

Five further ministers have just resigned from the government.

Kemi Badenoch, Neil O'Brien, Alex Burghart, Lee Rowley and Julia Lopez have all resigned in a single letter.

Julia Lopez was a culture minister.

Lee Rowley was a business minister.

Alex Burghart was an education minister.

Neil O'Brien was a levelling up minister.

Kemi Badenoch was a local government minister.

During prime minister's questions, it's believed Michael Gove was absent from the government front bench.

BBC cameras filmed him talking on his mobile phone in New Palace Yard within the Palace of Westminster estate before PMQs started.

The BBC is asking his office for an explanation of his absence.

Image source, HoC

We're now at 21 ministerial resignations since teatime yesterday, but we've also been busy bringing you details of backbench Conservatives who have spoken publicly against Boris Johnson's leadership for the first time since those resignations began.

As well as Robert Jenrick, Robert Halfon, Tom Hunt, Chris Skidmore and Lee Anderson, the MP for Hastings and Rye, Sally-Ann Hart, and the member for South Cambridgeshire, Anthony Browne, have also spoken out.

You can read his letter below.

Browne - who has worked with Johnson on and off since the prime minister's Spectator days nearly two decades ago - writes that his constituents are almost unequivocal in wanting the PM removed from office.

MPs Simon Fell, Gary Sambrook and Kate Griffiths have also said that they no longer support Johnson.

Robert Jenrick, who until last September was in Boris Johnson's Cabinet, adds his name to those calling for the PM to go, saying there's been an "irretrievable loss of trust".

In a Facebook post, the former housing secretary says: "I have always wanted the prime minister to succeed and I gave him every opportunity to do so. However it has become painfully clear that we are failing to provide the coherence, grip and direction that the country needs and deserves in these challenging times.

"More fundamentally there has been a significant and, I fear, irretrievable loss of trust with the public, confirmed by the mishandling of serious allegations in recent days.

"If we continue along our present path we risk doing lasting damage to the reputation of the Conservative Party for competence and good government and more importantly, to the standing of politics generally."

MP Paul Holmes, who resigned as as PPS (parliamentary aide) in May following the publication of Sue Gray's report into Partygate, tells the BBC Boris Johnson could be gone "in days".

He says "time's up" for the prime minister and the country needs "fresh leadership".

Holmes says he voted for Boris Johnson to be leader in 2019, but the issue is one of integrity - Tory MPs can't look their constituents in the eye and tell them what's gone on is acceptable.

People from around the country have been calling BBC Radio 5 Live today to give their views on Boris Johnson's leadership. Here's what a few of them have had to say:

Zach in Leicester pulls no punches in his assessment:

Ray in Nottingham is equally critical:

But Jane in Sevenoaks credits the PM with a landslide victory in 2019 and says we are witnessing a coup:

Sarja in Glasgow also has the PM's back and believes the resignations are political disloyalty:

Tania in Wakefield says the current uncertainty is damaging, and that while she did like the PM, he’s not coming across as a strong leader. In general, she says:

If you're wondering what all these people who are resigning actually do, the UK Parliament website, external explains the role of PPS nicely:

"A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is appointed by a minister to be his or her assistant.

"He or she is selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the House of Commons.

"It is an unpaid job but it is useful for an MP to become a PPS to gain experience of working in government."

There have now been 21 resignations from the government in less than 24 hours.

We've just heard three Parliamentary Private Secretaries - David Johnson, Claire Coutinho and Selaine Saxby - have left their roles.

Despite the continuing flurry of people quitting the government Boris Johnson's press secretary says the PM is confident he will be able to fill the posts of all the ministers and parliamentary aides who have resigned.

"There will be further appointments over the coming days," they said.

North Devon Conservative MP Selaine Saxby has resigned from her role as a Parliamentary Private Secretary.

She says "inaction is indeed action, and my silence is not compatible with my views or position".

She also says "trust, truth and integrity are vital in our work as politicians".

Conor Burns, who's Northern Ireland minister, tells the BBC his colleagues need to "calm down".

He says Boris Johnson is determined to fulfil the mandate the party won in the 2019 general election, and Tory MPs need to be "very careful" about bringing down a prime minister who won a "very personal mandate from the British people".

Burns recalls what happened when Margaret Thatcher was removed from power in 1990.

He says the "toxicity that was injected into the Tory party's bloodstream" took a decade or more to clear.

After Sajid Javid's resignation statement, the prime minister got up to leave the chamber.

As the Speaker said there would be no further personal statements in the Commons today, several MPs were heard to shout "Bye Boris".

Javid's speech was rallying cry to Conservativespublished at 13:32 British Summer Time 6 July 2022

13:32 BST 6 July 2022

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

"Enough is enough" - that was the rallying cry from Sajid Javid to other ministers who are considering their position. "Something is fundamentally wrong", he argued, and the problem started at the top.

He also sympathised with those ministers sent out to defend the PM on the basis of false information.

It would not be surprising if at least some more junior ministers now heed his call to go.

But he also attempted to shame cabinet colleagues who did not join him in resigning last night - arguing that doing nothing is an active choice.

He said "institutions and integrity" underpinned our democracy and the public expected honesty.

And he seemed to channel former chancellor Sir Geoffrey Howe, who hastened Thatcher's political demise 32 years ago. He had talked about the conflict between loyalty to his leader and loyalty to his country.

In Javid's version, he said he had been walking a tightrope between loyalty and integrity.

And the former health secretary seemed to liken Johnson to Donald Trump when he said that we had seen what happens in other democracies when divisions are entrenched.

"This is not an abstract matter," he said.

He also made it clear in the bluntest of terms that he had been lied to over Partygate - he had been personally assured there had been no parties.

But it seems he is not ruling out a return to government under different circumstances.

He drew on his own background and how he overcame difficulties and barriers put in his way - he was not a quitter. And he defended his own role in government as health secretary.

But more immediately, he clearly wants Johnson to follow him out of office swiftly.

If you missed Sajid Javid's speech in the Commons at lunchtime, here it is in full.

So you've seen the graph (see the post below if you haven't), and here's the detail.

By late last night, 10 ministers and aides had chosen to leave the government, including Cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak.

Today has seen more resignations - taking the total to 18.

Here's the full tally of who has resigned, and from where:

Cabinet ministers

• Rishi Sunak - chancellor
• Sajid Javid - health secretary

Ministers

• Will Quince - minister for children and families
• Alex Chalk - solicitor general
• John Glen - Treasury minister
• Victoria Atkins - Justice minister
• Robin Walker - Education minister
• Jo Churchill - Defra minister
• Stuart Andrew - Housing minister

Ministerial aides

• Laura Trott - parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the Transport secretary
• Jonathan Gullis - PPS to the Northern Ireland secretary
• Saqib Bhatti - PPS to the Health secretary
• Nicola Richards - PPS to the Department for Transport
• Virginia Crosbie - PPS at the Welsh office
• Felicity Buchan - PPS at the Business Department

Others

• Bim Afolami - vice-chair of the Conservative Party
• Theo Clarke - trade envoy to Kenya
• Andrew Murrison - trade envoy to Morocco