Lord Geidt’s exasperated intervention should spur Conservative rebel MPs to move against a prime minister who is demeaning public life
If the issues at stake were not so serious, and the behaviour of the prime minister not so egregious, it would be tempting to view the latest Partygate developments as a real-life Whitehall farce. When Christopher Geidt agreed last year to become Boris Johnson’s latest ethics adviser, it was already apparent that counselling a prime minister with no moral compass would be a tall order. His predecessor, Sir Alex Allan, had resigned in protest at Mr Johnson’s refusal to sack Priti Patel, despite Sir Alex finding her guilty of bullying and in breach of the ministerial code. Lord Geidt – who served with distinction as the Queen’s private secretary for 10 years – apparently believed he could help restore confidence in the role. With Mr Johnson in charge, this aspiration proved – to put it mildly – naive. Within months, Lord Geidt was being grievously misled by the prime minister over the procurement of funds for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.
From then on, the bar of probity in No 10 has only got lower. Mr Johnson has ducked and dived under it during the investigations by the Metropolitan police and Sue Gray into Partygate. This week, it appears that Lord Geidt came close to the end of his tether, reportedly threatening to resign after judging that the fixed-penalty notice handed to the prime minister was making a mockery of his position.
