In the morning, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve - one of the many Conservatives who have sidelined Boris Johnson - gave advice to cabinet members on TV: You should have lunch with Johnson now and tell him: 'If you don't resign today, I will resign today .” In the end, it was Health Minister Sajid Javid who took the step.

He could no longer in good conscience serve in this government, he wrote to Johnson, continuing: Citizens expect "integrity" from their government, "and the situation will not change under your leadership".

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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Just ten minutes later, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak followed him.

The public deserves "that the government is run properly, competently and seriously", he justified his resignation.

The double whammy is the hardest Johnson has endured to date, and many in Westminister believed Tuesday night it would spell the end of his political life.

But contrary to many expectations, no more followed in the hours after the resignations.

Instead, several ministers, led by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Brexit Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, pledged their support to the Prime Minister.

Will Johnson try to put away this vote of no confidence from two of his closest companions and move on?

In the morning, many had treated the affair, which has now exploded, as if it were like any other.

Had Johnson promoted a retainer knowing about his propensity to sexually harass men?

Pincher resigned after sexually molesting two men

That was the core of the issue debated in London.

As is usually the case when affairs pick up speed, it was less about the actual occasion and more about the question of what the head of government knew and when.

Johnson recently said he was "not aware of any specific incidents" involving Chris Pincher prior to his hiring decision.

But that was precisely what was denied by a Lord in the House of Lords on Tuesday morning.

Johnson made MP Pincher Deputy Chief Whip in February, giving him co-oversight of faction discipline.

Pincher resigned last week after sexually harassing two guests at a London private club while under the influence of alcohol.

Since then, Johnson's opponents have been investigating whether the prime minister gave the MP the job against his better judgment.

In 2017 there had already been an allegation that Pincher was able to dispel in an internal investigation.

Immediately before Pincher's promotion, the Prime Minister was "not aware of any specific allegations," Downing Street said.

This, Lord Simon McDonald now wrote, was "untrue".

In the summer of 2019 - two years after the first known investigation - there was a formal complaint against Pincher, in which he was by no means exonerated.

Johnson was told this “personally” at the time.

Simon McDonald, a member of the House of Lords as Baron McDonald of Salford since last year, was the most senior civil servant in the British Foreign Office until 2020.

Most recently, Pincher had worked there as a parliamentary undersecretary.

McDonald reported on the BBC that Pincher "duped" him and others during the investigation in the summer of 2019.

At the time, the affair surrounding the state secretary was of concern to the highest political level because of its sensitivity.

In the cabinet office he was informed that Johnson was personally briefed.

The prime minister's office must now change the "ambivalent language" and "pour pure wine".

It's not okay "that you tell roughly the truth and at the same time keep your fingers crossed in the hope that people won't ask too forensic questions," he said.

In the government, McDonald's statements were initially denied.

He doesn't know anything about "the fact that the Prime Minister was briefed directly," said Raab, who is now Minister of Justice.

I took that from a conversation with Johnson.

But a little later, a government spokesman admitted that the prime minister just didn't immediately remember - after all, the conversation was short and three years ago.

There it was again, the Johnson pattern.

Not only opposition politicians were outraged by his behavior, internal party critics also complained that the prime minister had another credibility problem.

Now the rebels have their first serious leaders in Sunak and Javis.

On Tuesday evening it was expected that the Johnson critics could be elected to the leadership of the influential "1922 Committee" of the group in the coming week and prevail there that another vote of no confidence be scheduled against Johnson.

That, it was said, could happen before the summer break on July 21.