Christopher Geidt, the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s independent advisor on ministers’ interests Christopher Geidt said on Wednesday he had resigned.

Last month Geidt said Johnson must explain why he thought he had not broken the ministerial code after being fined over attending a party during the Covid-19 national lockdown.

“With regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests,” he said in a statement posted on the government’s website.

Geidt, whose role was to advise Johnson on matters relating to the ministerial code of conduct, did not give a reason for his resignation.

He was appointed in April 2021, five months after the previous holder of the role resigned in protest at Johnson’s support for a minister who was found to have broken the code.

Geidt last year called for his role to have “considerably greater authority, independence and effect”, but when the government updated the ministerial code last month they said that while he could now initiate an investigation he was still required to consult the prime minister.

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