In surprising news out of the UK House of Commons this morning, the RT Honourable Lord Goldsmith has quit the UK Government as Johnson supporters and Prime Minister Sunak continue to butt heads. Goldsmith was placed on the House of Lords by former Prime Minister Johnson, who himself resigned from the House of Commons some short weeks ago.
Goldsmith quit the government this morning with a stinging attack on Rishi Sunak's environmental record. In a highly-critical letter to the U.K. leader, the environment minister said "this government's apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable."
His exit comes a day after MPs took him to task for sticking up for Boris Johnson. He was criticized by a cross-party committee for his recent role in backing Johnson.
The privileges committee argued Thursday that allies of the former prime minister, including Goldsmith, had been part of a "coordinated campaign to interfere with" its work investigating Johnson's conduct.
Goldsmith was criticized for retweeting a social media post branding the committee — investigating whether Johnson misled parliament over coronavirus rule-breaches by government staff — a "kangaroo court."
Downing Street was quick to highlight that row Friday, claiming that it had asked Goldsmith to say sorry. A terse letter from Sunak to Goldsmith, published by No.10, said the minister had been "asked to apologize for your comments about the privileges committee as we felt they were incompatible" with a government job. "You have decided to take a different course," said Sunak. Politico.eu
The departure of Lord Goldsmith brings the count to 3 Overseas Territory’s appointed Ministers to have departed in less than a year.
The Virgin Islands is due to have its Order In Counsel lifted by May 2024. It is unclear how this departure will affect the impending deadline.
The RT Honourable Lord Goldsmith was appointed the Minister for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in October 2022.