A minister accused of being part of a campaign to undermine an inquiry into Boris Johnson has resigned, criticising Rishi Sunak’s “apathy” towards the climate crisis.
In a scathing letter on Friday, Lord Zac Goldsmith took aim at the Prime Minister directly for being “simply uninterested” in the environment, and said his position had been made “untenable”.
However, the PA news agency understands he quit as a minister after being told to apologise for his alleged role in putting “improper pressure” on the Privileges Committee investigation into Mr Johnson’s partygate denials to MPs.
Writing to Mr Sunak, the Tory peer said: “Prime Minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months.
“The problem is not that the Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.”
He added: “This Government’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable. ”
Lord Goldsmith had been a minister at the Foreign Office, with the environment, climate and energy in his brief.
It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govt’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) June 30, 2023
In a report on Thursday accusing parliamentarians of a campaign to interfere with its work, the Privileges Committee cited a retweet posted by Lord Goldsmith in June which suggested it was a witch hunt and a kangaroo court
“Exactly this,” Lord Goldsmith, who was handed his peerage by Mr Johnson, had added. “There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.”
The committee said the Commons should consider whether the actions of MPs involved, including staunch Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, amounted to contempt of Parliament, as well as what further action to take.
Mr Sunak refused to answer questions about Lord Goldsmith’s resignation when asked as he left a hospital visit in Cambridgeshire on Friday.
Downing Street on Thursday said Mr Sunak had full confidence in Lord Goldsmith despite the follow-up report’s findings.
But the committee also said the upper chamber should be made aware of its findings and consider what action to take.
“This ‘simply uninterested’ Prime Minister can’t lead his own team, never mind lead the country.
“The Conservatives are in disarray – with mortgages soaring, NHS waiting lists rocketing, and in their own words: ‘Apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face’.”
The Liberal Democrats said the Prime Minister should have “had the guts” to sack Lord Goldsmith the day before his ministerial resignation following his “brutal” censure.
Sarah Olney, the party’s Treasury spokeswoman, said: “This Conservative chaos is never-ending.
“Every day brings more resignations and scandal in this depressing Westminster soap opera.
“Rishi Sunak should have had the guts to sack Zac Goldsmith yesterday when he was brutally criticised by the partygate watchdog. Sunak is clearly too weak to control his own party.”
