Political blog: Geoffrey Cox sacked as Attorney General

Geoffrey Cox's departure from Government isn't a huge surprise as he had been tipped for a sacking for a few weeks, however it is clear that he had hoped to keep his job as Attorney General - the Government's top law advisor.

The Torridge and West Devon MP joined the Cabinet in the summer of 2018 as part of the reshuffle triggered by Boris Johnson quitting as Foreign Secretary. He quickly became one of the highest profile Attorney Generals ever.

His role saw him as one of the leading ministers working on Theresa May's Brexit deal, with many MPs making up their minds on the deal based on Cox's legal advice.

When Boris Johnson took over as PM Geoffrey Cox stayed as Attorney General and had backed Johnson during the leadership campaign, even introducing him during the launch of it. Something that Cox mentions in his resignation letter to the PM

Cox's time in Government hasn't gone without controversy, he advised the Government that it was legal to suspend Parliament (prorogue) it earlier this year for more than a month to allow a Queen's Speech, but this was later ruled as 'unlawful' by the Supreme Court.

He also was criticised by a number of opposition MPs about his use of language in the House of Commons. In the build up to the calling of the 2019 General Election he described the Parliament as 'dead' and opposition parties who didn't want to vote for an election as being 'too cowardly'.

Cox has told the PM that he will return to the backbenches and support the Prime Minister and also continue to stand up for Torridge and West Devon.