Rishi Sunak Resigns as UK Finance Minister

The now-former minister wanted the country to become a crypto hub and announced a number of plans for the digital sector in April.

Jul 5, 2022 at 8:24 p.m. UTC

Updated Jul 5, 2022 at 8:59 p.m. UTC

Rishi Sunak resigns as U.K. finance minister( Leon Neal /GettyImages) — Rishi Sunak resigns as U.K. finance minister (Leon Neal /GettyImages)

Camomile Shumba is a CoinDesk regulatory reporter based in the UK. She previously worked as an intern for Business Insider and Bloomberg News. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.

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Rishi Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer on Tuesday, pointing to a number of allegations against the Boris Johnson-led government.

“The public rightly expect the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously,” Sunak said in a resignation letter posted on Twitter. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recently faced calls to resign after he admitted he had ignored misconduct allegations when he appointed Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip, and his staff was accused of hosting illegal parties during covid lockdown known as the partygate scandal.

Resigning on Tuesday along with Sunak was health minister Sajid Javid.

Sunak just one month ago had been strong in his support of Johnson as the prime minister barely survived a no-confidence vote by his party.

Sunak this afternoon: “I recognize this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”

The now-former finance minister had hopes to make the U.K. a crypto hub, and was responsible for a slew of Treasury plans in April to push forward those ambitions.

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