After many warnings, Lord Geidt has finally lost his patience with PM Boris Johnson and resigned as his advisor on ethics.
Geidt had already disclosed that he was considering his position after Johnson maintained that he had not broken the Ministerial code by both attending parties during the lockdown and deliberately misleading Parliament.
“With regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as independent adviser on ministers’ interests,” said Lord Geidt.
No 10 Downing street said they were “surprised by this decision.”
Johnson is facing a Privileges Committee investigation into whether he knowingly misled Parliament when asked about his attendance at parties during the lockdown.
Johnson maintains that he did not know he was breaking the rules, rules which he himself imposed on the people of England.
Johnson’s denials of wrongdoing appear to have been too much for his own ethics advisor, who resigned today.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said, “The person who should be leaving Number 10 tonight is Boris Johnson himself. Just how long does the country have to wait before Tory MPs finally do the right thing?”
This piles more pressure on Johnson just over a week after he survived a damaging confidence vote, where 41% of his MPs voted no-confidence in him. Lord Geidt’s walk out also puts more pressure on the Cabinet to move against him and force his resignation.
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