Boris Johnson considered action risking a deliberate breach of his own ministerial code, Lord Geidt said as he quit as ethics adviser over the “impossible and odious” position.
The ministerial interests adviser said in his resignation letter to the Prime Minister that he had been only credibly clinging onto the role “by a very small margin” over partygate.
Downing Street has published Lord Geidt’s resignation letter following his surprise departure last night.
Purposeful breach
He wrote: ‘This week I was tasked to offer a view bout the Government’s intention to consider measures which risk a deliberate and purposeful breach of the Ministerial Code.
‘This request has placed me in an impossible and odious position.
‘My informal response on Monday was that you and any other Minister should justify openly your position vis-a-vis the Code in such circumstances.
‘However, the idea that a Prime Minister might to any degree be in the business of deliberately breaching his own Code is an affront… I can have no part in this. ‘
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