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Jacob Rees-Mogg has quit as UK business secretary after conceding he would not get a job in Rishi Sunak's Cabinet, despite recanting his claim the new prime minister was a "socialist".
The old ally of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss was the first to acknowledge on Tuesday that he was out as the newly appointed Conservative leader began a government shake-up.
A source close to Rees-Mogg told the PA news agency: "He knows he was very close to the previous two regimes and it didn't seem likely he was going to be appointed in the new Cabinet.
"He's happy to support the prime minister from the backbenches."
During the last Tory leadership contest, Rees-Mogg described Sunak as the "much-lamented socialist chancellor" who had put up taxes during the coronavirus pandemic.
And he accused Sunak of "disloyalty" to Johnson, with many Conservatives blaming the new leader for bringing down the old one by resigning as chancellor.
But on Tuesday, Rees-Mogg backed down and told The Telegraph he would now serve in Sunak's Government if asked.
Asked about the "socialist" charge, the MP replied: "That was said in the run-up to the leadership campaign, under very different circumstances.
"The leader of the Conservative Party is clearly not a socialist."
Sunak pledged to "build a government that represents the very best traditions of my party" as he seeks to unite the warring factions.
Brandon Lewis resigned as justice secretary as Sunak was holding meetings in his new office in the House of Commons.
"Our party is at a crossroads," Lewis said in his resignation letter to the prime minister.
"We now have an opportunity to reunite and rebuild, and we must take it. We must come together and deliver the mandate we were given by the British people.
"We have a duty to the country to do so, at a time of economic hardship for so many. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the Conservative Party and everything we stand for is at stake if we do not.
"You will have my support from the backbenches in addressing the economic crisis we face, bringing our party together and delivering on the promises we put forward in the 2019 manifesto, on which we won such an overwhelming majority."
source: PA
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