NI secretary to join with colleagues to force Boris Johnson to quit - after voicing support for PM

Brandon Lewis is preparing to tell Boris Johnson to leave No 10, believing his position is "now untenable", a source close to the Northern Ireland Secretary has said.

It would mark a major shift in the Northern Ireland Secretary's support for the PM after telling UTV on Wednesday morning Mr Johnson had his support.

Mr Lewis has been a loyalist of the PM's.

Speaking at an integrated school in Belfast on Wednesday morning, Mr Lewis said he believed Mr Johnson had a duty to get on with delivering for people. Mr Lewis insisted that the PM was determined to "fix the issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol" in order to get "Stormont up and running". However, since those words dozens of MPs have quit the government - at one point five resigned in one go.

NI minister Conor Burns voiced his support for the embattled PM in the Commons on Tuesday.

Mark Logan MP, a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Northern Ireland Office, tendered his resignation on Wednesday afternoon, saying to the Prime Minister that his constituents "deserve more from leadership".

Mr Logan is the second PPS from the NIO to resign in the last 24 hours, with Jonathan Gullis resigning as Secretary of State Brandon Lewis's PPS on Tuesday evening.

Politicians from across the spectrum of NI politics have been responding to the chaos in the Conservative party over the course of Wednesday since the high profile resignations on Tuesday.

UUP leader Doug Beattie said that Boris Johnson was "damaging the Union" and should resign "for the good of that Union".

Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd said that whoever replaced Johnson would have to change the UK's policies on austerity, the economy and international agreements in order to stabilise power sharing.

Earlier the DUP MP Sammy Wilson had said that he did not believe Mr Johnson should resign, telling GB News that another leadership challenge would be an "indulgence".SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP said on Tuesday that Mr Johnson's, "time as Prime Minister is up and he must resign".

Mr Eastwood said that the Prime Minister "must go as soon as possible so we can begin to undo the damage he's caused."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.