London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Boris Johnson's ethics adviser Lord Geidt quits

Boris Johnson's ethics adviser Lord Geidt quits

The PM's ethics adviser has quit a day after saying there was a "legitimate question" about whether Boris Johnson broke ministerial rules over Partygate.

Lord Geidt did not give a reason for leaving the role he took in April, but said it was the "right thing" to do.

His predecessor, Sir Alex Allan, quit in 2020 after Mr Johnson overruled him over a report into alleged bullying by Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The government said it was "surprised" by Lord Geidt's decision.

"Whilst we are disappointed, we thank Lord Geidt for his public service," a spokesperson added.

The spokesperson gave no reason for the resignation but said Lord Geidt had been asked this week "to provide advice on a commercially sensitive matter in the national interest, which has previously had cross-party support. No decision had been taken pending that advice".

No 10 did not make it clear what these comments referred to.

A Downing Street source told the BBC that Lord Geidt's resignation had been a "total surprise and a mystery" to the prime minister, adding: "Only on Monday Lord Geidt asked if he could stay on for six months."

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "The prime minister has now driven both of his own handpicked ethics advisers to resign in despair.

"If even they can't defend his conduct in office, how can anyone believe he is fit to govern?"

Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: "When both of Boris Johnson's own ethics advisers have quit, it is obvious that he is the one who needs to go."

Former cabinet secretary Lord Turnbull said of Mr Johnson: "The pattern of behaviour is that anyone who has the power to criticise, obstruct or force him to change, he will try to reduce their power, suborn them or in the last resort wave them aside."

But he told BBC Newsnight that "the charge sheet of Boris Johnson's conduct is now so long that one accusation isn't going to make any difference", adding the prime minister would only leave office if he was removed as Tory leader by MPs.

It was reported that Lord Geidt had threatened to quit last month after the publication of the Sue Gray report into lockdown breaches in Downing Street unless Mr Johnson issued a public explanation for his conduct.

Appearing before a committee of MPs on Tuesday, Lord Geidt said: "Resignation is one of the rather blunt but few tools available to the adviser. I am glad that my frustrations were addressed in the way that they were."

But, in a brief written statement on Wednesday, he said: "With regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as independent adviser on ministers' interests."


Geidt's discomfort in the job was evident

On Wednesday evening, Lord Geidt phoned the prime minister's principal private secretary to tell him he was resigning. Mr Johnson was informed of the decision at about 18:30 BST, shortly after finishing a phone call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But while the particular timing has surprised some in Downing Street, Lord Geidt's discomfort in the job has been evident for a while.

Just last month he had said in a report that it was a legitimate question to ask if Boris Johnson had breached the ministerial code by breaking Covid laws.

Lord Geidt also spelled out in the report that he didn't like the terms of his job - "the prevailing arrangements still remained insufficiently independent to be able to command the confidence of the public" as he put it.

But the truth is we don't yet know definitively why Lord Geidt resigned, as his resignation letter has not been published - which itself is unconventional.

The prime minister is expected to write back to Lord Geidt on Thursday morning, and that reply may well be made public.

Mr Johnson was fined in April over a surprise birthday party in his honour that he attended in Downing Street in June 2020.

Writing to Lord Geidt afterwards, he said there had been "no intent" to break Covid regulations", and that he had been "fully accountable to Parliament and the British people".

The ministerial code, which outlines the rules government ministers must follow, says there is an "overarching duty" on them to comply with the law.

If the code is broken, the convention in Westminster is for a minister to resign.

In his annual report on ministers' interests, published on 1 June, Lord Geidt said questions around Mr Johnson's behaviour had led to an "impression... the prime minister may be unwilling to have his own conduct judged against" the ministerial code.

He said that, when it came to the Partygate fine, "a legitimate question has arisen as to whether those facts alone might have constituted a breach of the overarching duty within the ministerial code of complying with the law".

Following Lord Geidt's resignation, Tory MP William Wragg, whose Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee questioned the adviser on Tuesday, described him as "a person of great integrity, motivated by the highest ideals of public service".

Mr Wragg, a critic of Mr Johnson, added: "For the PM to lose one adviser on ministers' interests may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness."

Lord Geidt previously served as the Queen's private secretary and before that he was an Army intelligence officer and diplomat.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×