Are ministerial resignations even interesting any more? There are more of them in Theresa May’s government than there are solid policy announcements or indeed any sort of decision at all. Today it was the turn of Greg Hands, who announced that he was stepping down as a junior trade minister in order to vote against Heathrow expansion. The vote on building one more runway at the airport finally comes on Monday, and Tory MPs will be whipped to support it. Hands, always a loyalist, was very polite when he announced he was off, describing it as an ‘honour’ to serve Theresa May and previously David Cameron, but he needed to honour his 2017 election pledge to oppose the new runway. He’ll be replaced by George Hollingberry, another true loyalist who has served May as her PPS and is one of her most trusted colleagues.
It’s hardly a caustic resignation, though the fact that it is now quite normal for May to lose ministers isn’t exactly a sign of strength.
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