Greg Clark appointed levelling up secretary

Greg Clark has been appointed secretary of state at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities.

Mr Clark replaces Michael Gove who was sacked last night by the prime minister after urging him to hand in his resignation yesterday.

Boris Johnson is expected to hand in his resignation later today, with speculation that he may continue in post until the autumn, despite calls from some senior Tory MPs for him to go immediately.

Between 2015-2016 Mr Clark was secretary of state when the department was known as the Department for Communities and Local Government and was part of Theresa May’s cabinet.

Until today he was chair of the Commons' science and technology committee. He made no public call for Boris Johnson to resign yesterday

This afternoon he tweeted: "We have a duty to ensure that the country has a functioning government in the weeks ahead. "Having been secretary of state at the communities department before, I will do my best to provide stability, good governance and accountability to Parliament at this important time." This afternoon he tweeted: "We have a duty to ensure that the country has a functioning government in the weeks ahead. "Having been secretary of state at the communities department before, I will do my best to provide stability, good governance and accountability to Parliament at this important time."