In the United States, a country where Cabinet members now resign with great regularity, the departures of David Davis, the British cabinet minister responsible for Britain leaving the European Union, and Boris Johnson, the shaggy-haired foreign secretary, may not seem like much of a story.
Theresa May, the prime minister, for the first time in two years set out some concrete proposals for Britain’s future relationship with its most important trading partners. Davis and Johnson didn’t like them. One quit just before midnight Sunday; the other quit Monday afternoon. So what?
Although there will doubtless be some amusing anecdotes to be told about Johnson, who has stayed on at the Foreign Office despite gaffes that would have sunk anyone else, their departure isn’t the interesting piece of the story.