Lord Geigt, former secretary to Queen Elizabeth II for a decade, airs excuses for leaving pointless post
Lord Geidt, ethical adviser to the British Prime Minister, has increased the discredit on his role, after the publication of a resignation letter addressed to Boris Johnson, in which he justifies his departure. The former soldier and private secretary of the queen reproaches Johnson in his letter for silence about the ‘partygate’ and an “insult” that hours later seems like a contrived excuse.
Geidt sent the resignation letter 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, has not specifically referred to his possible breach of the Ministerial Code. The adviser to the prime minister is dedicated to the bankruptcies of that code.
The last paragraph is dedicated by Geidt to the wrong committed this week, which left him “in an impossible and hateful position.” He doesn’t disclose it, 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 breach 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 governance are still based on the assumption that ministers are and act like a ‘gentleman’. But, during the decline of the conservative era initiated in 1979 by Margaret Thatcher, her replacement, John Major, created in 1994 a Committee on Standards in Public Life. It had been discovered among the chain of scandals that ‘Tory’ parliamentarians charged private companies to ask questions of the Government.
The committee’s first report issued seven commandments for the conduct of politicians, officials, judges, police officers, and public service employees in general. They must be altruistic, upright, objective, responsible, open, honest and leaders. Tony Blair’s Labor government added to these principles a Ministerial Code.
tough committee
“Rarely has there been such a worthless constitutional document,” according to lawyer and constitutional commentator David Allen Green. It offers a detailed description of how members of the Government should manage public affairs and their private activities. How should they ask for permission to give interviews, the criteria for using planes, should they treat their subordinates well, inform 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 the British bureaucracy. He has no powers, as Boris Johnson demonstrated, rejecting in 2021 the results of Sir Alex Allan’s investigation into verbal abuse and intimidation of Home Secretary Priti Patel, and her recommendation that she resign for breaking the code.
Who resigned, in the face of such public humiliation, was the adviser, Allan. Johnson then signed Christopher Geidt, with a resume in military intelligence, diplomacy and a decade as private secretary to the queen. He was an adviser to a bank, an arms company, and the Sultan of Oman, when he became the ethical adviser to a happy-go-lucky prime minister.
He was an adviser to whoever has the power to initiate investigations into breaches of the code of ethics. In his testimony before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, he defended himself against criticism from MPs who belittled his role by reminding them that a recent reform of the code gave him powers to launch investigations, provided the prime minister gives him permission. The deputies laughed.
Interrogations by a committee of Parliament have in the past caused psychological damage to witnesses unaccustomed to the rhetorical brutality common to politicians during public hearings. Geidt sent his resignation letter hours after his humiliation. On Monday he wanted to continue and suffered the aggravation of steel, on Tuesday he appeared for two hours before a committee that stripped him naked as an unfunny ‘establishment’ bureaucrat. He culminates his itinerary through politics with a ridiculous gesture.
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