Robert Jenrick has resigned from his post as immigration minister over the government’s Rwanda plan.
Home Secretary James Cleverly confirmed his colleague’s departure after repeated questioning in the Commons.
Speculation mounted after Mr Jenrick was missing from the frontbench as Mr Cleverly gave a statement on the government’s bid to rescue the deal to fly migrants who arrive illegally in the UK to East Africa.
When asked by MP Ashely Dalton if he had resigned, Mr Cleverly said: “That has been confirmed.”
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Earlier friends of Mr Jenrick told Sky News he has resigned but he has not confirmed it himself.
His departure comes after emergency legislation aimed at reviving the stalled Rwanda asylum policy avoided the most hard-line option to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
This is something many on the right of the Tory party have called for, including former home secretary Suella Braverman.
Earlier she warned the Tories face “electoral oblivion in a matter of months” if the legislation introduced is “destined to fail”.
Mr Jenrick is said to have pushed Mr Sunak for the toughest version of the legislation. But complying with those demands would have left Mr Sunak facing an outcry from his MPs from the more centrist One Nation faction.
Rwanda also said they pull out of the deal if it broke international law.
Mr Sunak promised the emergency legislation after the Supreme Court ruled the plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. The draft bill, published on Wednesday, compels judges to treat the East African nation as a safe country and gives ministers powers to disregard sections of the Human Rights Act.
