Key ministers including Grant Shapps and Nadhim Zahawi to tell Boris Johnson to resign

Move could be a fatal blow for the embattled prime minister

A delegation of cabinet ministers including the newly appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is preparing to tell Boris Johnson to resign from No 10 after mass resignations from the ministerial ranks.

The move could represent a fatal blow to Mr Johnson’s embattled premiership with MPs from across all wings of the Conservative party also publicly declaring the prime minister no longer has their confidence.

In the wake of the resignations of chancellor Rishi Sunak and the health secretary Sajid Javid, who urged the cabinet to act on Wednesday, the prime minister has haemorrhaged support across the Tory ranks.

A government source told The Independent the delegation of ministers includes Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, Chris Heaton Harris, the chief whip, and Mr Zahawi, the new chancellor, and the Welsh secretary Simon Hart.

International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has also been seen arriving at Downing Street while long-standing cabinet ally Brandon Lewis now believes Mr Johnson’s position is “untenable”.

Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, told the prime minister to resign during a private meeting earlier on Wednesday, but has remained in post.

Mr Johnson, who was appearing at the Commons Liaison Committee as the news emerged, was told here was a delegation of cabinet ministers waiting for him at No 10 to tell him to quit by the Labour MP Darren Jones.

But the prime minister, who has defied calls to resign, repeated the line that he was “not going to get into a running commentary on political events”.