The civil war inside the Conservative Party intensified after one of Rishi Sunak’s ministers quit and then almost immediately accused No 10 of briefing against him.
Zac Goldsmith, an ally of Boris Johnson, launched a stinging attack on his party leader’s record. He told Mr Sunak his “apathy” on climate change would cost them votes at the next general election.
Lord Goldsmith hit back at what he said were “misleading” remarks from No 10 and insisted he had been “happy to apologise” for his criticism of the investigation that found Mr Johnson repeatedly lied to MPs over Covid-era parties.
Another Johnson ally, Nadine Dorries, also condemned what she described as Downing Street “spin”.
But Lord Goldsmith was accused of throwing his “toys out the pram” by another senior Tory, Andrea Leadsom.
The peer, who had been working on the environment brief at the foreign office, criticised the prime minister’s attitude to climate change in his resignation letter.
“Even if this existential challenge leaves you personally unmoved, there is a world of people who do care very much. And you will need their votes,” he wrote to Mr Sunak.
In his follow-up letter, Mr Sunak wrote: “I accept your resignation. You were asked to apologise for your comments about the privileges committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a minister of the crown. You have decided to take a different course.”
But Lord Goldsmith hit back on Friday lunchtime, accusing No 10 of a “misleading briefing” and said he was “happy” to apologise.
It comes less than 24 hours after the Conservatives suffered a double political blow – losing a key court challenge against their Rwanda deportations policy, and taking heavy criticism from the damning privileges committee report.
Downing Street had earlier said that the prime minister had full “confidence” in Lord Goldsmith – who was criticised by the watchdog along with other Tories.
The committee had blasted “vociferous attacks” by allies of Boris Johnson against its investigation into the former prime minister, accusing them of an “unprecedented and coordinated” campaign to impede its work.
In Lord Goldsmith’s case, the cross-party group of MPs took issue with a tweet in which he characterised its work as a “kangaroo court” and “witch-hunt” against Mr Johnson.
But in a lengthy resignation letter to Mr Sunak on Friday morning, Lord Goldsmith said he was leaving the government because it was “simply uninterested” in the climate emergency. In a caustic attack, Lord Goldsmith said: “Only last week you seemingly chose to attend the party of a media baron rather than attend a critically important environment summit in Paris.”
The outgoing minister also said he was “horrified” that key animal welfare commitments have also been abandoned, including the long-awaited Kept Animals Bill.
“Prime minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months,” the peer said.
“The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our prime minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.”
Mr Sunak said the government could be “proud of the UK’s record as a world leader on net zero”.
And he hit back at Lord Goldsmith’s criticism of his decision not to attend the Paris summit in favour of Rupert Murdoch’s summer party. Mr Sunak said the UK was represented by the minister of state for development, Andrew Mitchell.
“We are going far beyond other countries and delivering tangible progress,” he said in response to his resignation, adding that the government is committed to leaving the environment “in a better state than we found it”.
Lord Goldsmith is a former Tory candidate for mayor of London and was given a life peerage by Mr Johnson following the 2019 election, in which he lost his Richmond seat as an elected MP.
He said in a post on social media on Friday lunchtime: "In response to some misleading briefing from Number 10, I'd like to make clear I am happy to apologise for publicly sharing my views on the Privileges Committee.
“I firmly believe our Parliamentary democracy can only be strengthened by robust exchange and scrutiny and Parliamentarians should of course be free to be critical of its reports & proceedings.
“But as a Minister I shouldn’t have commented publicly. Number 10 asked me to acknowledge that and made clear there was no question of my being sacked if I did so. I was – and am – happy to do so.”
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Show all 50Ms Dorries described the loss of Lord Goldsmith as “huge”, adding it was “beyond party politics”.
The former culture secretary said: “His record of achievement, the depth of his knowledge, his passion re the environment is second to none. We’ve just lost the most able minister for the environment any government would be lucky and proud to have. This loss is beyond party politics. It’s huge.”
Labour’s Sir Chris Bryant meanwhile said Mr Sunak’s administration had ceased to be a government, and now amounted to “a lingering smell”.
Shadow minister Jess Phillips said she had “had no idea” Lord Goldsmith was even part of the government, “which I guess speaks to the level of impact this strop will have”.
And Labour’s environment secretary Jim McMahon said the events of the last day showed the Tories were in “disarray”.
“Rishi Sunak’s weakness is laid bare as 24 hours after he refused to condemn Zac Goldsmith, Goldsmith scathingly condemns him,” he said. “This ‘simply uninterested’ prime minister can’t lead his own team, never mind lead the country.”
