It is a “surprise” departure which again shakes Boris Johnson, tainted by the “partygate” scandal.

The adviser to the British Prime Minister, responsible for ethics and compliance with the ministerial code, has resigned, Boris Johnson announced on Thursday.

The Conservative leader, who thus suffered a new setback, said he was "sorry" to have received this letter of resignation, expressing his "surprise" in a letter sent Thursday to Christopher Geidt.

The latter explains in his missive that he thought he could continue his role after the “partygate” scandal, these parties in Downing Street during the confinements which earned Boris Johnson a fine.

But he ultimately decided to resign after being put in an “impossible position” by a new request.

" An affront "

“I have been instructed to advise on the government's intention to consider measures which risk a willful and willful violation of the ministerial code.

This request placed me in an impossible and odious position,” he wrote, without giving further details.

He said the idea that the Prime Minister "could in any way deliberately violate his own code is an affront".

Boris Johnson replied that he was "seeking his advice before any decision was taken".

New disavowal for Johnson

Christopher Geidt is the second ministerial ethics adviser to resign in three years, after Alex Allan.

The latter had slammed the door in 2020 after Boris Johnson refused to accept his conclusions on the accusations of harassment against the Minister of the Interior Priti Patel.

The resignation of this former diplomat, who was also Queen Elizabeth II's private secretary for ten years, is a new disavowal for Boris Johnson, who recently escaped a vote of no confidence which saw more than 40% of Conservative MPs try to win. oust.

Even if he retained his post and cannot be targeted by another motion of no confidence for a year, the Prime Minister, who has become very unpopular two and a half years after his electoral triumph, has seen his authority undermined by the magnitude of the slingshot.

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