British ethics adviser resigns, leaving PM Johnson to his fate

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
16 Jun 2022 11:58
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A day after conceding that Johnson may have broken the ministerial code, ethics adviser Lord Geidt quits, leaving Boris to deal with Partygate on his own.

Lord Geidt, the ethics adviser, quits a day after conceding that Johnson may have broken the ministerial code

British PM Boris Johnson has been attempting to rebrand his premiership since the partygate scandal came out, however, he got hit in the face by Lord Geidt’s resignation.

Geidt, the PM’s ethics adviser, quit after conceding that Johnson may have broken the ministerial code. In a statement, the resigned adviser said that “with regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as an independent adviser on ministers’ interests.”

This is the second resignation in two years for ethical advisers. This pattern could overshadow Johnson’s attempts to shake off the stigma he is marked with since partygate, given that he endured last week’s vote of no confidence by Tory MPs.

Johnson had won the confidence motion with 211-148 votes on Monday night and retained his position, despite the anger over Downing Street's lockdown-breaking parties and overall discontent with his leadership.

The current party rules stipulate that a prime minister cannot face another vote for a year after the first vote was carried out.

"Methods can be made. The system can be adjusted to mean the current rule of allowing a prime minister an entire year would be changed," Ellwood told SkyNews, answering the question of whether the rules could be changed.

Johnson could be up against a new confidence vote just six months from now after the leading Conservative committee started looking for ways to change the rules, Parliament member Tobias Ellwood said this month.

A Government spokesperson said: “We are surprised by this decision, given Lord Geidt’s commitment to the role, to the prime minister, and in his evidence to the House of Commons just yesterday.

Johnson's premiership is unprecedented, as he is the first British leader to be fined for breaking the law after he became the first UK leader to be penalized for breaking the law when police disclosed that they had issued dozens of penalty notices to his employees as part of an ongoing investigation.

The British PM had repeatedly denied before the house that he or his staff had breached the strict lockdown his government had put in place, though fines issues last week have proven his claims to be false. He did apologize for the scandal, though remained adamant he never knowingly misled parliament and vowed to press on with other issues, including the war in Ukraine.

The premier had previously stressed that accepting a fine did not mean he broke the law. His allies also revealed that he would not resign were the Met to fine him.