News / Politics
Weston-super-Mare MP resigns as Johnson’s anti-corruption tsar
Hours ahead of a vote of confidence in Boris Johnson, a local Tory MP has resigned as his anti-corruption tsar.
The vote will be held by Conservative MPs on Monday evening. If he loses, Johnson will be forced to stand down as prime minister and the Conservatives will choose a new leader
Weston-super-Mare MP John Penrose – who is the husband of Dido Harding, formerly the head of the NHS Test and Trace programme – wrote on Facebook where he published his letter that it is “pretty clear” that the prime minister broke the ministerial code.
is needed now More than ever
“My reason for stepping down is your public letter last week, replying to your Independent Adviser on the Ministerial Code about the recent Sue Gray Report into ‘partygate’,” Penrose wrote in his letter to Johnson.
“In it you addressed the concerns over the Fixed Penalty Notice you paid, but not the broader and very serious criticisms of what the Report called ‘failures of leadership and judgment’ and its’ conclusion that ‘senior leadership
at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture’.
“You will know (and your letter to your Adviser on the Ministerial Code explicitly says) that the Nolan Principles of Public Life are absolutely central to the Ministerial Code, and that the seventh of them is Leadership.
“So the only fair conclusion to draw from the Sue Gray Report is that you have breached a fundamental principle of the Ministerial Code – a clear resigning matter.
“But your letter to your Independent Adviser on the Ministerial Code ignores this absolutely central, non-negotiable issue completely. And, if it had addressed it, it is hard to see how it could have reached any other conclusion than that you had broken the code.
“I will always be grateful to you for getting Brexit done after the country voted to leave in the EU Referendum, for leading us to victory in the 2019 General Election, and for getting the country out of covid lockdown as early as was safely possible last year.
“But I hope you will understand that none of these can excuse or justify a fundamental breach of the Ministerial Code. As a result, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be honourable or right for me to remain as your Anti-Corruption Champion after reaching this conclusion nor for you to remain as Prime Minister either.
“I hope you will now stand aside so we can look to the future and choose your successor.”
Main photo: John Penrose
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