LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Downing Street has come under pressure to release a letter from Lord Geidt, PM’s former ethics adviser, who abruptly quit without explaining.Â
Lord Geidt was known to be dissatisfied with how Boris Johnson handled the Partygate, even suggesting that he might have broken the ministerial code.
According to the BBC, he has written a lengthy letter to the Prime Minister outlining his reasons for leaving.
The Cabinet Office is now facing pressure to make the letter public.
It is a custom to release to the public the letters of resignation from senior officials and the PM’s response to them.
Mr Johnson’s response to Lord Geidt is scheduled to be published later by Downing Street.
Lord Geidt’s resignation could be tied to a commercially sensitive problem in the national interest, which he was requested to look into, said Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab who didn’t know why Lord Geidt had resigned. The minister did not provide any additional information on the case.
Labour’s Chris Bryant, head of the Commons’ Standards and Privileges Committee, accused the government of using this odd national interest issue as “chaff” to muddle matters.
He believes it was an attempt to divert attention away from reality, he told BBC News.
He believes the function of adviser should be modified to make it really independent and controlled by Parliament, and he wonders who on Earth would do that job otherwise?
If the letter and the prime minister’s response were not released, he believes people would draw their own judgement, which would not be favourable, said Sir Philip Mawer, a former parliamentary commissioner for standards.
He said he was disappointed but not shocked by Lord Geidt’s resignation, adding that the prime minister had a succession of failures and it was not just Partygate.
Lord Geidt’s exit was a “complete surprise and a mystery” to the prime minister, according to a Downing Street source, who added: “Only on Monday Lord Geidt asked if he could stay on for six months.”
MPs will have the opportunity to question a minister about his departure during an urgent question in the House of Commons later today.
Lord Geidt has recently expressed his dissatisfaction with the handling of the Partygate scandal.
He stated it was plausible to believe the prime minister had broken the ministerial code by violating Covid shutdown restrictions.
Lord Geidt has already criticised the Prime Minister over a probe into renovations of the Downing Street residence.
Under the premiership of Mr Johnson, he is the second ethics adviser to resign. Sir Alex Allan resigned in 2020 because Mr Johnson refused to accept his findings that Home Secretary Priti Patel had mistreated civil servants.
Lord Geidt’s position entailed giving Mr Johnson guidance on the ministerial code. He could even investigate ministers for violating the code, but only if the prime minister requests it.
Ministers have an “overarching duty” to follow the law, according to the code, which defines the regulations they must follow. Ministers are expected to quit if the code is breached.
After being fined in April for attending a birthday celebration in Downing Street in June 2020 – while Covid restrictions were in effect – questions have been raised over if Mr Johnson broke the code.
Despite the penalties, Mr Johnson stated that he would not quit and in a letter to Lord Geidt he mentioned that there had been no intention of breaking the COVID rules.
Lord Geidt reportedly vowed to resign last month after the publication of a report exposing Downing Street lockdown breaches unless Mr Johnson delivered a public apology for his actions.
