BRITISH prime minister Boris Johnson's former ethics adviser said that he resigned his post because he "could not be a party to advising on any potential law-breaking".
In a letter published by Sky News, Christopher Geidt, the second ethics adviser to quit under Johnson in two years, said he wanted to clear up the "confusion" about the precise cause of his decision, which the British prime minister said was connected to advice on trade tariffs. Read full story
"Emphasis on the steel tariffs question is a distraction," Geidt said in the letter.
"It was simply one example of what might yet constitute deliberate breaches by the United Kingdom of its obligations under international law, given the government's widely publicised openness to this."
"I could not be a party to advising on any potential law-breaking."
Geidt's resignation on Wednesday was the latest resignation from Johnson's government, which is under pressure on multiple fronts.
The prime minister has been criticised for his role in parties in his Downing Street residence and office when Britain was under strict lockdowns to tackle Covid-19 as well as his deportation policy to Rwanda, and the EU has said a new plan to deal with post-Brexit trade is illegal.
(Reuters)
Manmohan Singh; the then prime minister of India walks in procession through Cambridge University in October 2006 before receiving an honorary Doctor of Law degree
With US president Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and his wife Gursharan Kaur at the White House in November 2009
With Pakistan prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at the 2011 ICC World Cup semifinal in Mohali, north India
Meeting Queen Elizabeth II during a reception for G20 leaders at Buckingham Palace in April 2009 
The scale of the event is immense, comparable to the combined populations of the United States and Canada. (Photo: Getty Images)
A Hindu devotee smeared with ash dances during a religious procession ahead of the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj on January 10. (Photo: Getty Images)
Pilgrims carrying their belongings walk over floating pontoon bridges to go to Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers, in Prayagraj on January 12. (Photo: Getty Images)
