Before he was ousted as Conservative leader in 2003, Iain Duncan Smith was dubbed "the quiet man". But there was nothing subdued or understated about the manner of his departure last night.

Instead, a zinger of a resignation letter, designed to inflict maximum damage on Chancellor George Osborne; a relationship that had long been testy, tested to destruction by this week's Budget.

By questioning, as the Conservatives' critics have long done, the Tory slogan to justify cuts - "We are all in this together" - Mr Duncan Smith knowingly provided the government's opponents with ammunition.

For a man with ambitions to lead his party, these have been difficult days for George Osborne.

This morning David Cameron woke to a vacancy in his cabinet and a wound inflicted on his government.
'Step too far'

Baroness Stroud, who worked with Mr Duncan Smith at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and now heads the Centre for Social Justice think tank, which he founded, told the BBC: "He always used to say to me, 'I'm here in order to deliver reform and to protect the poorest'.

"Yesterday he felt that he could no longer protect the poorest... This is a step too far."

Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, an ally of Mr Duncan Smith, said: "A lot of colleagues will be extremely annoyed at this explosion but they will not be surprised.

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"I think the high-handed and short-termist political approach that the chancellor has tended to take to the management of other departmental budgets has tested the patience of more than one minister."

But Conservative MP Stephen McPartland, a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Disability, said he welcomed the resignation and saw it as a "real opportunity to get these welfare reforms right".

He said he was "not the chancellor's biggest supporter" but believed "aggressive reforms" and an "evangelical point of view" at the Department for Work and Pensions under Mr Duncan Smith "have consistently failed disabled people".

Commons Leader Chris Grayling told the BBC Mr Duncan Smith had done "some really good work" on welfare reform and he was "surprised" and "very sorry" to see him go.

Asked if this was really about Europe, Mr Grayling - who like Mr Duncan Smith is campaigning for the UK to quit the EU, in opposition to the prime minister - said: "I don't think this makes any difference at all to the referendum campaign."

Sources close to Mr Duncan Smith also say his resignation was not about Europe.

Labour MP Frank Field, who chairs the Commons work and pensions committee, said: "Behind this is a much, much bigger drama... What he crucially cared about was the balance of resources going to families and children and older people.

"The pensioner element, the biggest part of the Budget, was safeguarded and in fact increased... all these cuts were on people of working age and it's this point that Iain thinks the social contract between generations is being broken."

In his resignation letter, Mr Duncan Smith said: "I have for some time and rather reluctantly come to believe that the latest changes to benefits to the disabled and the context in which they've been made are a compromise too far.

"While they are defensible in narrow terms, given the continuing deficit, they are not defensible in the way they were placed within a Budget that benefits higher earning taxpayers."

Replying to Mr Duncan Smith, Mr Cameron said there had been collective agreement between "you, No 10 and the Treasury" that "the increased resources being spent on disabled people should be properly managed and focused on those who need it most".

"[On Friday] we agreed not to proceed with the policies in their current form and instead to work together to get these policies right over the coming months.

"In the light of this, I am puzzled and disappointed that you have chosen to resign."

Guto Bebb becomes under secretary of state at the Wales office, replacing Mr Cairns, the MP for Vale of Glamorgan.

Jeremy Corbyn: "He's suddenly found a conscience now... I wonder where it has been hiding for six years"