In staffing difficulties: Boris Johnson in front of 10 Downing Street.
Image: AP
While the British Prime Minister is worried about the second resignation of an “ethics adviser”, his cabinet wants to continue flying asylum seekers to Rwanda against the European Court of Human Rights.
EA brief report on the government’s website has once again got Boris Johnson in trouble. In it, the Prime Minister’s “ethics adviser”, Christopher Geidt, said on Thursday night that it was “the right thing” to leave his post with immediate effect. In his resignation letter, which Downing Street published on Thursday, Geidt accused the Prime Minister of “deliberate and willful” violations of the ministerial code, which put him in an “impossible position” as an adviser.
The opposition promptly used this to once again address Johnson’s misconduct during the pandemic. However, according to Johnson’s written reply to Geidt, the main allegation was not related to “Partygate” but to a trade policy operation. Johnson wrote that he had sought Geidt’s advice on whether a proposed safeguard measure for a key British industry was in the national interest, even if it might violate international trade law. In doing so, he wanted to ensure that the government was acting “correctly, especially with regard to the code of conduct”.