Jeremy Hunt has quit as foreign secretary after Boris Johnson tried to move him from his post.
In a blow to the new prime minister on his first day in office, Hunt refused to take the job offered to him by Johnson, reported to be defence secretary.
Hunt finished second to Johnson in the Tory leadership race just a day earlier.
He promised to give the new PM his “full support” but his sacking, alongside a purge of his supporters like Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox, is likely to spark anger among backbenchers who wanted Johnson to build a broad-based cabinet.
In a series of tweets, Hunt said he turned down Johnson’s offer of a different role.
And he claimed he had now decided to be a “good dad” to his children, despite spending the last few weeks running to be PM.
A moderate Tory MP told HuffPost UK the government was “losing some good people”.