Michelle Donelan resigned as education secretary barely 36 hours after being promoted to the post, following science minister George Freeman out of the Westminster government in a final flood of departures that forced Boris Johnson to announce that he would step down as prime minister.
Ms Donelan had been appointed to the post only on Tuesday evening, but by Wednesday afternoon she was among a delegation of Cabinet ministers who urged Mr Johnson to step down. Her resignation left the Department for Education without any ministers in the House of Commons, following the departures of skills minister Alex Burghart, school standards minister Robin Walker and children’s minister Will Quince.
