Theresa May regarded Phillip Lee as one of her few personal friends in politics.
But a matter of minutes before the Prime Minister chaired her weekly Cabinet meeting at 9.30am, she received word from the justice minister that he was quitting in order to fight her Brexit policy, which he described as “detrimental” to the country.
Having spent almost all of Monday negotiating a deal with backbench Tory rebels to avoid defeat during the Brexit votes in Parliament, Mrs. May now found herself facing a potential plot from her own ministers to scupper her Brexit plans.