Former Culture Secretary and Attorney General Jeremy Wright was a staunch Remainer who was sacked from Boris Johnson’s first cabinet. He has, after a slight technical botch, confirmed he is calling for Boris to step down in light of Partygate. In a statement released on his website this afternoon, Wright said he had “concluded that, for the good of this and future Governments, the Prime Minister should resign”. Although no mention of whether he’s actually written a letter to Sir Graham…

“What we now know happened in Downing Street during months of Covid restrictions imposed by Government policy makes that consent less likely, as many will say that if senior Government officials don’t keep to the rules, why should I? Putting that right matters hugely to the essence of Government authority and to the effectiveness of Government policy, and I cannot see that the moving on of civil servants or apologies, however heartfelt, will succeed in doing so. Accountability and restoring faith in good Government require something more, both to safeguard future public compliance with Government instructions when it counts, and to allow the present Government to deliver the important legislation it has introduced, including vital changes to social care funding, energy security and online regulation. It now seems to me that the Prime Minister remaining in office will hinder those crucial objectives. I have therefore, with regret, concluded that, for the good of this and future Governments, the Prime Minister should resign.”

For a few minutes it looked like Wright had had a change of heart: the statement appeared on the site for about two minutes, only to then mysteriously vanish and send Westminster hacks into a frenzy. It’s now back up. The exasperated staffer who answered Guido’s calls to explain what happened said “it’s on, it’s on, the website crashed. It’s there”…