Matt Western has said it is time for a Labour government following the announcement today that Boris Johnson will resign as prime minister.

Mr Johnson's resignation today comes after more than 50 ministers quit as more facts emerged about the Chris Pincher affair.

In a speech from Downing Street this afternoon he said it is "painful not to be able to see through so many projects and ideas".

He added: "I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world, but them's the breaks."

He will stay at No. 10 until the autumn when there will be a Conservative leadership contest.

But Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington Mr Western said the outgoing PM has shown "no sense of humility" today adding: "The history books will not look favourably on him."

"His legacy is one of the highest Covid death rates among all major nations, massive debt, and a bad Brexit deal (which has damaged our region's economy in particular) as well an eroded democracy," Mr Western said.

"Lies, division and debasement of a great office for which he has always been unfit.

advertisement

Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington Matt Western said Mr Johnson had been propped up by Tory MPs

"But I'm afraid it was Conservative Party MPs who enabled Boris Johnson.

"I was calling on them to act way back in January but instead we've had six more months of damage to the economy and all in government are complicit.

"It is time for change. Time for a fresh start. We need a general election to clear up their mess.

"And it's time for a Labour government."

Local Conservative MPs had also called for a change in party leadership, with MP for Stratford-on-Avon Nadhim Zahawi this morning saying that Mr Johnson should "leave with dignity".

A letter he sent to Mr Johnson today - just two days after accepting his new post as Chancellor of the Exchequer - said: "Yesterday, I made clear to the prime minister alongside my colleagues in No. 10 that there was only one direction where this was going, and that he should leave with dignity.

"Out of respect, and in the hopes that he would listen to an old friend of 30 years, I kept this counsel private.

advertisement

"But the country deserves a government that is not only stable, but which acts with integrity."

MP for Kenilworth and Southam Sir Jeremy Wright has been calling on the PM to resign since the he Sue Gray report was published.

Sir Jeremy said Mr Johnson had caused "real and lasting damage" to the Government's reputation.

And having voted against the PM in the failed no-confidence bid, Sir Jeremy said his views on the PM had been "reinforced" following the Chris Pincher affair.

Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana said it was "good riddance" and said "shame on those who enabled him".