The Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith has resigned as minister just days after he was named in the House of Commons report on the partygate scandal.
In his resignation letter today (Friday, June 30) he criticised the government over “abandoning” its animal welfare, climate and nature commitments, singling out Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in particular.
“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 said.
He cited in particular the “ditched” Kept Animals Bill and claimed the government has “effectively abandoned” its “pledge to spend £11.6 billion of our aid on climate and environment”.
“Indeed the only reason the government has not had to come clean on the broken promise is because the final year of expenditure falls after the next General Election and will therefore be the problem for the next government,” he said.
“This government’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable,” he added.
“With great reluctance I am therefore stepping down as a minister in order to focus my energy where it can be more useful.”
Goldsmith’s resignation comes just two days after he was chastised in a Committee of Privileges report into former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s conduct regarding the partygate scandal, referring to the government social gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic, published on Wednesday (June 28).
The House of Commons committee was inquiring into whether former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had committed contempt of Parliament by intentionally misleading the House of Commons.
It said it was concerned “in particular” at the involvement of government members in attempting to “influence the outcome of the inquiry”.
It said these certain members were aiming to discredit the committee and its findings.
In a list of some of the “most disturbing examples” it listed Goldsmith’s post on Twitter whereby he retweeted a tweet calling the inquiry a witch hunt and kangaroo court, and added: “Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.”
Goldsmith
Goldsmith will be leaving his position as Minister of State (Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment).
As minister his responsibilities included animal welfare; forestry policy; international environment, climate, biodiversity and conservation; and green financing, among others.
He was also the lead for the Forestry Commission and Lord Minister for environment, including the Environment Bill.
Previously, he was a minister with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Goldsmith said he became involved in politics because of his “love and concern for the natural environment”.
“We depend on nature for everything,” he said in his resignation letter.
“Logically, there is nothing more important.”
