LOCAL MP TELLS JOHNSON: 'I CAN NO LONGER PIROUETTE AROUND FRACTURED VALUES'

Ms Atkins - went to school in Blackpool

THE MP whose constituency includes Holton-le-Clay and Tetney has today resigned from the Government.

Former barrister Victoria Atkins, MP for Louth and Horncastle,  has left her position as Justice Minister in apparent dismay at the leadership style of the Prime Minister. 

In her letter to Mr Johnson, she writes: "Values such as integrity, decency, repect and professionalism should matter to us all.

"I can no longer pirouette around fractured values." 

Ms Atkins, who succeeded the late Sir Peter Tapsell, grew up in  Lancashire and went to school in Blackpool where she says she could hear the shrieks of delight coming from Pleasure Beach while in class.

After reading Law at Cambridge University, she became a barrister and specialised in  prosecuting serious organised crime.

She says it was "a privilege to represent the decent, law-abiding majority in my work prosecuting hardened criminals including gun-runners, drug-traffickers and fraudsters".

First elected to parliament in 2015, then re-elected in 2017 and 2019, she was  Minister for Women between 2018-2020 before her most recent Government position. 

Ms Atkins' husband, Paul Kenward, is managing director of British Sugar and on the board of other companies. The couple have a son, Monty.

The 18 MPs to have stepped down from serving the PM in various capacities as of noon today is as follows:   

Rishi Sunak

Sajid Javid

Will Quince

Alex Chalk

Laura Trott

Bim Afolami

Jonathan Gullis

Saqib Bhatti

Nicola Richards

Virginia Crosbie

Andrew Murrison

Theo Clarke

Robin Walker

Felicity Buchan

John Glen

Victoria Atkins

Jo Churchill

Stuart Andrew                                                                        

Ms Atkins' letter of resignation