June 30 (UPI) — Zac Goldsmith, the British Environmental Minister, has stepped down after a disagreement with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
In his resignation letter, which he shared on Twitter, Goldsmith expressed his frustration with Sunak’s lack of interest in environmental policies.
“This government’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable. The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested,” Goldsmith stated in his resignation letter.
Sunak acknowledged the resignation and issued a response, defending the government’s environmental policies. He also accused Goldsmith of resigning after being asked to apologize for making critical comments about the investigation into former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“You were asked to apologize for your comments about the Privileges Committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as Minister of the Crown. You have decided to take a different course.”
In another statement, Goldsmith refuted Sunak’s claims, labeling them as “misleading.” He also stated that his resignation had been a long time coming.
“I am happy to apologize for publicly sharing my views on the Privilege Committee,” Goldsmith added.
The Privileges Committee recently concluded a year-long investigation into former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Their report found that Johnson deliberately misled the House of Commons when he denied the existence of COVID-19 lockdown parties in Downing Street.
“We have concluded above that in deliberately misleading the House, Mr. Johnson committed a serious contempt. The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government,” the committee’s report stated.
The committee also alleged that Goldsmith was part of a coordinated campaign by Johnson’s allies to interfere with their investigation.
Previously, Goldsmith tweeted that the committee was a “kangaroo court.”
After losing his seat in Parliament to Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney in 2019, Goldsmith was appointed to the House of Lords by Johnson.
