Prime minister Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser Lord Geidt suddenly resigned from his position on Wednesday evening.
Lord Geidt had previously voiced displeasure at how the PM had handled the Partygate saga and had suggested that there was a “legitimate question” to be answered over whether Johnson had broken the ministerial code in his receiving of a fine for breaking lockdown rules.
The ministerial code refers to an “overarching duty” for ministers to obey the law. Ministers who break the code are expected to resign from their positions.
Johnson had written a letter to Lord Geidt previously, outlining that he had not intended to break ministerial rules and that he planned to stay on as prime minister.
The BBC quotes one of its sources within Downing Street as saying that the resignation had come as a “total surprise and a mystery” to the PM, with Lord Geidt having asked “only on Monday…if he could stay on for six months.”
At the time of writing, Downing Street is coming under pressure to release Lord Geidt’s resignation letter to ascertain the precise reasons behind his exit.
MPs will also have the opportunity to table an urgent question in Parliament on Thursday to ask more about the adviser’s departure.
The only public comment made by Lord Geidt so far has been a brief statement, saying: “With regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as independent adviser on ministers' interests.”
Deputy PM Dominic Raab told the media that he was unaware of the reasons behind Lord Geidt’s decision to resign, but suggested that it could be tied to “a commercially sensitive matter in the national interest” which he had been “asked to look at”.
Raab added that Lord Geidt would be replaced as the independent adviser on ministers’ interests as soon as possible and that Downing Street would provide an update on the matter later on Thursday.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour's international trade secretary, told Sky News that it was unsurprising that a government adviser was leaving post following the PM’s conduct around Partygate.
He said: “I don't think it is surprising, given the appalling conduct of this prime minister over a sustained period of time that we see, again, an independent ethics adviser leaving.
“What we can't have here is Number 10 somehow not making public the reason... we need to see a situation where Number 10 is open about this.”
Labour's Chris Bryant, chairman of the Commons' Committee on Standards and Privileges, accused Raab of using “this strange national interest issue” to “deflect from reality” over Lord Geidt’s resignation.
Lord Geidt becomes the second ethics adviser to quit while serving under Boris Johnson, following Sir Alex Allan who resigned in 2020.
Sir Alex had left his role after the PM chose not to accept his conclusions around home secretary Priti Patel having bullied some civil servants.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
