tonsillar Sajid Javid has resigned now
that is a pretty shot piece of news
certainly it was expected that he would
be staying in post that he was one of
that group of ministers in the senior
most senior Offices of State who would
be staying in that position but we are
hearing now from our political editor
Laura Koontz Berg that he in fact has
resigned this is Laura's tweet I'm
reading to you I don't know if we can
get it up on the screen straight away
but she was saying so Javed has gone
reshuffle blown up if this is a
carefully worked out jigsaw of people in
particular positions then to lose
someone as key as him from a key
position clearly means that Boris
Johnson will have to to some extent go
back to the drawing board there is
Laura's Twitter feed on your screens
Laura says she hears that Sajid Javid
was offered to stay on as Chancellor on
condition he fired all of his advisers
he refused and turned down the job so it
sounds as though the Chancellor was
certainly railing against you know being
told what to do with his personal
advisors and we can now talk to Laura
our political editor Laura this is a
quite extraordinary piece of news a
quite extraordinary development it
really is I mean reshuffle so often end
up blowing up and being very unexpected
in the last few minutes I've heard that
the Chancellor Sajid Javid has decided
that rather than obey the orders of the
prime minister to sack his advisory team
he hasn't said turned down the second
most important job in government and has
decided to resign in the interim I'm
just hearing that Ritchie sunic who has
been the chief secretary to the Treasury
is likely to be appointed Chancellor in
his place but that job of being Boris
Johnson's next-door neighbor at number
11 was meant to be in number tens design
a piece of continuity the transfer Sajid
Javid was meant to be staying on despite
the fact that there have been
unhappiness between the two teams as I
so often is here
in Downing Street but this is a really
major development and a big difference
to the government because of course the
Chancellor is one of the key
appointments perhaps the most important
appointment that any Prime Minister
makes and at this early stage of the
morning only a couple of hours into the
reshuffle it has already taken an
unexpected turn I'm just saying there's
a Soviet rap and what do you make of a
Chancellor having to resign dominate rap
of course donut grabbed a foreign
secretary expected to stay there in that
job but no doubt this will all be blown
off course now what had been expected to
be a reshuffle of relatively moderate
scale not too much drama going on has
already turned into something extremely
different
so obviously Laura an attempt to exert a
huge degree of control down to you know
control over who individual ministers
advisors would be and so where was that
request coming from obviously yes from
the Prime Minister but who was behind
that was it Boris Johnson anyone else
behind that request to such a Javid to
fire all of his advisers well without
having been in the room and he so it's
always hard to tell but of course I
think the finger will point either
fairly or not but pretty directly at
Dominick coming Sue's the prime
minister's most senior adviser that is I
think an assumption that a lot of people
will make but you know that said there
are a lot of people who work in Downing
Street and ultimately it is ministers
and prime ministers who make the
decision as the saying goes advisers
advise prime ministers
decide but it is you know quite an
extraordinary thing to happen at this
stage of a relatively new government not
long after the election that essentially
the number two in terms of those top top
jobs the man who was in charge of the
economy who spent he was meant to be
delivering a budget in less than a
month's time the budget is in four weeks
on March the 11th rather than staying in
government has refused to stay in that
hugely important job because he would
not accept an attempt to exert more
control on him by Downing Street and
ultimately there's always gossip and
chat about advisers and how they behave
but ultimately Prime Minister's the ones
who make the decisions Boris Johnson may
have hoped that Sajid Javid would just
suck this up and stay on quite clearly
he's decided that's just not going to be
the case and so therefore
we have a big elevation for Ritchie soon
ak who was considered in conservative
circles as somebody who was a rising
star who proved himself during the
general election campaign but for
someone with a relatively little level
of experience very well-respected in
Westminster I would say but still you
know a relatively new member of the
government a huge elevation for him an
enormous pressure and you know this is
the kind of thing changing the
Chancellor is not a decision that any
government would ever take lightly and
to lose the chance that are over this
sort of power struggle over who's on his
payroll is a very very big political
call to make but some people might
remember very early days one of such as
Javed's special advisor sonia khan was
fired at that point by the new number 10
operation
Sajid Javid made no secret of the fact
that he was deeply unhappy about that
and he is refused to allow that to
happen again
instead deciding that it's time to move
out so Laura as far as number 10 is
concerned then the pace of the day the
pace of the reshuffle continues yes
that's absolutely I forgive me for just
checking down at my phone because I
don't want to miss anything happening
but just as I as I understand it you
know this is a big turn in the reshuffle
you know that we were expecting this to
be relatively mid scale relatively move
along not that much to see yes and
well-known names like Andrea led some
and Esther McVeigh departing the
government but in terms of the overall
setup and the overall direction as it
was saying with a budget in four weeks
this was not meant to be how the day was
meant to progress but they certainly
have found themselves relatively early
in the day with a huge drama unfolding
of course people will point at this and
wonder if number 10 really thought that
Sajid Javid would accept this attempt to
exact huge control over here man his
wider team
maybe they believed that actually he
would end up resigning because of that
but you know as the eras unfold and the
days unfold then you know we'll try and
be able to find out exactly what went on
but no doubt a reshuffle that's already
taken a very different turn from what we
expected just ten minutes or so ago and
my reaction to this I'm sure a lot of
people's reaction
as you heard me say a second ago was
what an extraordinary piece of news I
mean Laura this is a chancellor who
didn't actually even get to deliver a
budget well I mean look this is a
relatively you know new government is
that's how they want to cast themselves
but Sajid Javid was absolutely meant to
be part of that team there have already
been some big set-piece announcements
from it from from him and we know for
example that he was very keen on getting
that high-speed rail to announcement
over the line of course that happened
last week but it's not just a matter of
a budget in a few weeks time also the
government's been embarking what's known
as the spending review round where
literally line by line every pound and
penny that spent by the government is
meant to be looked at and put under the
microscope and you know Chancellor's are
traditionally of course absolutely key
to the shaping of any government and its
priorities but also very often the
tension between those two buildings
behind me between numbers 10 and 11 is
very often a defining characteristic of
any government and that certainly had
been rumbling around for a long time
tensions not necessarily between Boris
Johnson and Sajid Javid and eventually
but certainly between their teams but
this turn of events you know I think
will really be quite shocking to some
people one Tory insiders just texted me
a couple of moments err just saw and I
glanced at my phone saying this is
insane and Sajid Javid was stability in
the government that you know only we'll
only know in the weeks and months to
come whether or not Russia sooner is
able to step up to the plate is somebody
who's widely respected in Westminster
but it's a huge step up for him and also
what kind of role will Sajid Javid play
on the back benches you know will he
become as people often do a thorn in the
Prime Minister's side of course with the
parliamentary majority the size of Boris
Johnson's it's not really the case that
he's in any way under threat but he
could do without ardent critics and
we'll have to wait and see what searched
Javed decides to do on the back benches
you know remember - he wanted to be
Prime Minister he ran for the leadership
as well so this is really sort of
in the cat among the pigeons and it may
well be the start of something rather
than the end of one man's political time
in cabinet okay Laura thank you very
much for that Laura Coons burg in
Downing Street forest Laura saying the
Sajid Javid has decided that rather than
obey the orders of the Prime Minister to
sack his advisory team he has instead
turned down what is regarded as the
second most important job in government