Northern Ireland minister resigns, says Boris Johnson's govt has no 'honesty, integrity and mutual respect'

London [UK], July 7 : UK minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, resigned from his position on Thursday (local time), saying that he no longer believed the values of honesty, integrity and mutual respect are being upheld by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government.
In his resignation letter to Boris Johnson, Lewis wrote, "A decent and responsible Government relies on honesty, integrity and mutual respect - it is a matter of profound personal regret for me that I must leave Government as I no longer believe those values are being upheld."
The Minister has served under the government for over a decade.
Lewis wrote that he "cannot sacrifice his personal integrity to defend things as they stand now," adding "we are, however, now past the point of no return."
"In recent weeks and months, we have been relentlessly on the defensive, consumed by introspection and in-fighting. A divided Party cannot win elections. It cannot deliver for those who trusted us with their votes for the first time in 2019," he continued writing.
Johnson has fired UK Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove, UK media reported on Wednesday, as he rebuffed calls from inside his own Cabinet to resign.
Gove had previously called on Johnson to resign. Johnson has told members of his cabinet that he will not resign as this may result in political instability.
UK media reports say that Johnson is determined to keep his job. At the same time, a group of ministers who were loyal to the prime minister reportedly called on him to resign.
Almost 30 UK government officials, including key figures like UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, have already submitted their resignations over the recent scandal involving former deputy chief whip Christopher Pincher.
Johnson on Wednesday said that his government would not fold after two of his senior Ministers and a string of junior officials submitted their resignation in protest of his leadership.
"The job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when you've been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going. And that's what I'm going to do," Johnson told lawmakers. "We are going to get on and deliver our mandate and win another general election," he added.
Despite the influx of resignations from both senior and junior staffers, Johnson vowed to "keep going". He further said that he would only quit if the government could not carry on.
Earlier, on Tuesday, two key ministers, namely Sajid Javid, secretary of state for Health and Social Care and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak resigned from their posts.
In his resignation letter, Sunak said he was "sad to be leaving the government", but has come to the conclusion that he "cannot continue like this".
"The public rightly expects the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning," Rishi Sunak said.
Javid said he had lost confidence in Boris Johnson's ability to govern following multiple scandals, saying he could "no longer continue in good conscience". The minister said that many lawmakers and the public had lost confidence in Johnson's ability to govern in the national interest.
In his resignation letter, which he posted to Twitter, Javid told Johnson that "the values you represent reflect on your colleagues," and in light of recent scandals, the public had concluded that their party was neither "competent" nor "acting in the national interest."
The exit of the top minister comes amid the row involving the former Conservative party whip Chris Pincher, who was accused of sexual misconduct.
Last week, Pincher quit as deputy chief whip after claims that he groped two men but Johnson knew about allegations against him as far back as 2019. The British PM said he regrets giving Pincher a government role as Deputy Chief Whip following the revelation of a misconduct complaint against him.