Britain in sixes and sevens over Brexit; David Davis, Boris Johnson resign

A leadership challenge from within the ruling Conservative party appeared to loom for incumbent British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday, after two of her heavyweight cabinet ministers, Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, dramatically resigned over their avowed inability to support the terms and conditions drawn up to exit the European Union. A junior minister in Davis’s department, Steve Baker, also tendered his papers. In a no-holds-barred resignation letter, Davis said he would not be a “reluctant conscript” to May’s Brexit plan. But the City of London provided a mixed reaction to his departure. The FTSE rose by around 1%. But the pound fell by 0.29% against both the dollar and the euro. Clearly under pressure, May, while addressing a noisy House of Commons, asserted in respect of her two former cabinet colleagues: “We do not agree on the best way to deliver our shared commitments to honour the result of the (Brexit) referendum.”