Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser resigns a day after admitting ‘frustration’ over partygate

Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser resigns a day after admitting ‘frustration’ over partygate

Web Desk
June 16, 2022

Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser resigns a day after admitting ‘frustration’ over partygate

Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser resigned after expressing his displeasure with the partygate issue.
Lord Geidt announced his resignation.
He had refused to deny to MPs just a day before that he had pondered resigning over Mr. Johnson’s response to being fined for breaking lockdown regulations.

Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser resigned after expressing his displeasure with the partygate issue.

On Wednesday evening, Lord Geidt, who serves as the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests, announced his resignation.

‘With sorrow, I consider it is right that I resign from my job as independent adviser on ministers’ interests,’ the peer said in a statement.

He had refused to deny to MPs just a day before that he had pondered resigning over Mr. Johnson’s response to being fined for breaking lockdown regulations.

Lord Geidt informed the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee that the partygate incident had caused him “frustration.”

‘I am pleased that the Prime Minister was able to react to my report and, in doing so, addressed elements of the issues that I was plainly concerned about,’ he told the committee.

‘Resignation is one of the adviser’s more blunt, but limited, options. I’m relieved that my grievances were addressed in this manner.’

Lord Geidt reportedly vowed to resign last month after the release of the Sue Gray report into Whitehall lockdown breaches unless Mr. Johnson delivered a public apology for his actions.

In response, the Prime Minister wrote to Lord Geidt, explaining that any violation of Covid legislation that occurred when he joined a gathering in the Cabinet room to celebrate his 56th birthday was ‘unwitting.’

When he informed Parliament there had been no parties, he insisted he was acting in ‘good faith.’

Lord Geidt, a former private secretary to the Queen, acknowledged on Tuesday that it was ‘reasonable’ to suspect that the Prime Minister had broken the ministerial code by receiving a fixed-penalty notice from the Metropolitan Police.

He did, however, say he would not open an investigation into Mr. Johnson, despite the fact that he has subsequently been given more authority to conduct his own investigations.

He referred to himself as a ‘asset of the Prime Minister as a minister of the Crown,’ rather than a ‘free-roaming adviser,’ and insisted on Mr. Johnson’s final approval before beginning an investigation.

During Mr. Johnson’s less than three years as Prime Minister, Lord Geidt is the second person to leave as his ethics adviser.

Mr. Johnson refused to accept Sir Alex Allan’s findings that Home Secretary Priti Patel had intimidated civil staff, therefore he resigned in 2020.

The resignation was believed to have taken the Prime Minister completely by surprise.

‘We are startled, this is a mystery to the PM,’ a senior source in No 10 told the PA news agency. He only declared he wanted to stay for another six months on Monday.’

Labor calls on him to resign once more.