Lord Geigt, former secretary to Queen Elizabeth II for ten years, sends apologies for leaving pointless post
Lord Geidt, ethics adviser to the British Prime Minister, has discredited his role after publishing a letter of resignation to Boris Johnson justifying his departure. In his letter, the former soldier and private secretary to the Queen accuses Johnson of being silent about the “party gate” and an “insult” that hours later seems like a contrived excuse.
Geidt sent the letter of resignation to Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon. Published this Wednesday, in the bulk of the text, it insists on its complaint that the prime minister, who has spoken hundreds of times about the scandal of illegal parties during the pandemic, did not specifically refer to his possible violation of the ministerial code. The prime minister’s advisor is committed to that code’s bankruptcies.
The last paragraph is devoted by Geidt to the mistake committed this week that left him “in an impossible and hateful position”. It doesn’t reveal anything, but Johnson’s response, published in conjunction with Geidt’s letter, does. The prime minister and his advisers asked if they could subsidize steel production, as other countries do, in violation of World Trade Organization rules. Johnson reminds him that at the same meeting he told him that he would remain in office for a year.
Constitutional structures and conventions of British administration are still based on the assumption that ministers are ‘gentleman’ and behave. But during the downturn of the conservative era started in 1979 by Margaret Thatcher, her replacement, John Major, set up a committee on standards in public life in 1994. In the chain of scandals, it had been discovered that ‘Tory’ MPs instructed private companies to put questions to the government.
The commission’s first report issued seven commandments for the conduct of politicians, civil servants, judges, police officers and civil servants in general. They must be altruistic, sincere, objective, responsible, open, honest and leaders. Tony Blair’s Labor government has added a ministerial code to these principles.
“Rarely has there been such a worthless constitutional document,” said lawyer and constitutional commentator David Allen Green. It provides a detailed description of how members of the government should manage public affairs and their private activities. How should they ask permission to give interviews, the criteria for using aircraft, should they treat their subordinates well, inform the parliament,…
The position of independent adviser to the Prime Minister on the ministerial code is actually worthy of Monty Python’s mockery of the characters and customs of British bureaucracy. It has no powers, as Boris Johnson showed, and in 2021 it rejected the results of Sir Alex Allan’s investigation into verbal abuse and harassment of Home Secretary Priti Patel and his recommendation to resign for breaking the code.
Who resigned, despite such public humiliation, was the adviser, Allan. Johnson then signed Christopher Geidt, with a resume in military intelligence, diplomacy and a decade as the Queen’s private secretary. He was an adviser to a bank, an arms company and the Sultan of Oman when he became an ethical adviser to a fortunate prime minister.
He has advised anyone with the authority to investigate violations of the Code of Ethics. In his testimony before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, he defended himself against criticism from lawmakers who belittle his role by reminding them that a recent reform of the code gave him the power to launch investigations, provided the prime minister gives him permission. The delegates laughed.
Interrogations by a parliamentary committee have in the past inflicted psychological damage on witnesses unaccustomed to the rhetorical brutality common to politicians during public hearings. Geidt sent his letter of resignation hours after his humiliation. On Monday he wanted to continue and suffered the insult of steel, Tuesday he appeared for two hours before a committee that unceremoniously stripped him as a bureaucrat of the ‘establishment’. He ends his journey through politics with a ridiculous gesture.
Source: La Verdad
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