Another ethics adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. The government in London announced the resignation of Christopher Geidt tonight. Geidt gave no reason for his departure in his official statement, but he called it “the right thing to do”.
“It is with regret that I resign my position of independent consultant, but this is the right decision,” Geidt said. Yesterday, the adviser told a parliamentary committee he was “frustrated” over the lockdown parties being held at the prime minister’s official residence. “Resigning is one of the few, but blunt, tools an adviser has,” he said.
To British media, Geidt already referred to partygate, the scandal in which Johnson has been involved for some time. The question of whether the prime minister’s code of conduct violated, was a “legitimate question,” Geidt said. It is common practice to resign for serious violations of the Code, but Johnson has always maintained that he has operated within the Code.
Sources at Downing Street say to from the BBC that Geidt’s resignation was completely unexpected. However, the station reports that he had already threatened to resign last month, when top official Sue Gray’s report about partygate came out. In the report, Gray strongly criticized the lockdown parties.
Not the first
Geidt is not the first ethical advisor to step down. Two years ago, his predecessor, Alex Allan, gave up. Allan resigned over Johnson’s failure to intervene after a report said Home Secretary Priti Patel allegedly intimidated officials. Both advisers were appointed by Johnson himself.
Last week, Johnson survived a confidence vote within his own party, which allowed him to stay on as party leader (and prime minister). An ongoing parliamentary inquiry is investigating whether Johnson misled the House of Commons in his answers to questions surrounding partygate.
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