Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Tory party divided over Heathrow Airport announcement

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street, London, after a Cabinet meeting, as the long-awaited decision on which airport expansion scheme should get the go-ahead is to be finally made.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street, London, after a Cabinet meeting, as the long-awaited decision on which airport expansion scheme should get the go-ahead is to be finally made.

The stark divisions in the Tory party over the expansion of Heathrow Airport were immediately exposed in the aftermath of the UK Government’s announcement.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson branded a third runway as “undeliverable”, while his Conservative colleague, Zac Goldsmith, immediately quit in protest.

Education Secretary Justine Greening, whose seat lies under the flight path, also said she was extremely disappointed.

And she stressed she would continue to represent her constituents’ views at the forthcoming public consultation.

Last week, Theresa May gave Cabinet ministers permission to criticise the decision for a “limited period” in an effort to stave off the threat of resignations.

But No 10 has decreed they will not be allowed to actively campaign against the development.

Mr Johnson claimed the project would cause “inevitable degradation” to the quality of life of people under the potential new flight paths.

He added: “A third runway is undeliverable. The day when the bulldozers appear is a long way off, if indeed they ever materialise.”

Mr Goldsmith, a high-profile environmentalist whose constituency is also affected, called the decision to push ahead with a third Heathrow runway “catastrophic”.

He argued constituents felt “let down” down that promises made by the Tories under David Cameron had not been kept.

Having resigned, he will now stand as an independent in the ensuing by-election.

The Conservatives have announced they will not contest the seat, which was held by the Lib Dems until 2010.

Splitting the Tory vote could allow Tim Farron’s party to retake the constituency.