MP says he is 'sorry to hear' about Boris Johnson's resignation

Welsh Conservative MP for Clwyd South Simon Baynes (pictured) has issued a statement this afternoon following today's resignation of Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party, while remaining Prime Minister until a new leader is elected by the party.

In it Mr Baynes says:  "I am very sorry about the resignation of the Prime Minister as I am a strong supporter of his and consider that he has achieved a great deal for our country, particularly in getting Brexit done, the highly successful Covid vaccine rollout and his outstanding international leadership on the war in Ukraine. 

"It was a particular honour for me to be elected as the MP for Clwyd South in 2019, a seat which he stood for as the Conservative candidate in 1997 and which he has continued to visit regularly and take a great interest in ever since.

"I was very pleased to be appointed by the Prime Minister earlier this year as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministerial team at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, a position which enables me to see the high level of legislative and reforming activity being enacted by his government.

"We will now have a leadership election campaign in the Conservative Party which I am sure will be conducted rapidly and in a constructive and courteous fashion. I wish the Prime Minister and his family all the very best for the future and thank him from the bottom of my heart for all that he has done for Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom."

* A strong supporter of Boris Johnson in Llangollen, former county councillor Stuart Davies, has this afternoon resigned from the Conservative Party over the way he says the Prime Minister has been treated.  

Mr Davies commented: "Given the way the PM has been treated by some members and some officers of the Conservative Party I feel that I have no option but to resign from the Party that I have been a member of since the 90s.

"Accordingly I have let the relevant people know that I have resigned. Boris has been a friend of Clwyd South and myself since 1997. The actions of political opportunists and some members has sickened me.

"Boris got the big things right, such as Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine.

"I am sad to see him go."