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NO MERCY: Top POLITICO colleague Emilio Casalicchio
got the scoop yesterday that Leo Docherty — who served as a British Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan — will replace Johnny Mercer as veterans minister, after Mercer was sacked last night. Mercer decided he couldn’t stay in the government ahead of the Overseas Operations Bill aimed at protecting veterans from vexatious prosecutions returning to the Commons today, because British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland are excluded from the bill.
What happened: Per our Emilio: “Mercer was planning to resign [on Wednesday]. Downing Street feared he was going to quit with some big drama at the dispatch box so told him to quit tonight. He refused so was sacked.” A government insider told POLITICO: “We’ve destroyed his little plan to flounce out in a blaze of glory.” Mercer claims he was sacked by text but government sources insist he was told in person.
More detail … from the
Telegraph’s Rob Mendick and Lucy Fisher, who says Mercer was summoned to Chief Whip Mark Spencer’s office just before 7 p.m. yesterday, but walked out mid-meeting. Spencer texted him after to make clear he’d been sacked. Mercer’s allies tell Fisher he feels he’s been bullied by the government.