London: British minister Zac Goldsmith, the brother of Imran Khan’s former wife Jemima, resigned from government on Friday after launching a stinging criticism of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Goldsmith, Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate & Environment, claimed that Sunak was “uninterested” in the environmental brief.
“The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested,” said Goldsmith, who sits in Parliament’s upper chamber.
Goldsmith, who posted his resignation letter, addressed to the PM, on Twitter, wrote: “It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govt’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down.”
It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govt’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) June 30, 2023
He made the point that Britain had “visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature.”
A report by the government’s climate advisers, published earlier this week, said Britain had lost its position as a global leader on climate action and was not doing enough to meet its mid-century net zero target.
