Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brandon Lewis quit as PM begins reshuffle

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brandon Lewis have resigned from the government as Rishi Sunak begins to assemble his new cabinet, with the prime minister also sacking Chloe Smith and Wendy Morton.

Sunak is expected to keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor, at least for the short term, and return Suella Braverman to the cabinet, as well as handing new posts to key leadership allies Oliver Dowden, Mel Stride and Dominic Raab.

Grant Shapps, who has been home secretary less than a week, has been tipped by two sources to be business secretary, potentially replaced by Raab or Braverman.

Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said it had been “a privilege to serve”. Morton, the chief whip who caused immense controversy under Liz Truss over the fracking vote, has also been sacked.

Vicky Ford, the Foreign Office minister for development who attended cabinet under Truss, has also left the government.

Sunak met departing ministers in his House of Commons office, a common tactic used to spare sacked cabinet ministers the indignity of walking up Downing Street in front of the cameras.

Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, had been a close ally of both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss and had attacked Sunak during his failed summer leadership campaign.

The Guardian understands Rees-Mogg sent Sunak a resignation letter after he finished departmental questions in the Commons, just moments after Sunak was confirmed as prime minister.

He had previously said he would not serve in Sunak’s cabinet. “I believe his behaviour towards Boris Johnson, his disloyalty means that I could not possibly support him. And he wouldn’t want me in his cabinet anyway,” he told Sky News in July.

Rees-Mogg’s letter was swiftly followed by one from Lewis, the justice secretary, which said: “Our party is at a crossroads. We now have an opportunity to reunite and rebuild, and we must take it. We must come together and deliver the mandate we were given by the British people.

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“We have a duty to the country to do so, at a time of economic hardship for so many. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the Conservative party and everything we stand for is at stake if we do not.”

Morton tweeted that she was “heading to the backbenches from where I will continue to represent the constituents, businesses and communities of Aldridge-Brownhills.”

A Number 10 source Sunak would complete much of the reshuffle on Tuesday afternoon, though more could continue into Wednesday.