Tory peer Zac Goldsmith has resigned from his role as a Foreign Office minister accusing Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, of being “simply uninterested” in the environment.
Lord Goldsmith has been the Minister for the international environment for the past four years saying it had been an "exhilarating experience".
But in a two-page resignation letter, Lord Goldsmith said he had struggled to "hold the line" in recent months blaming the Prime Minister and his lack of interest in the environment.
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
Lord Goldsmith wrote: “The past four years have been an exhilarating experience for me, and I will forever be grateful that I was put in a position where I could do more for the environment than I thought possible in a lifetime.
“I’m proud that in recent years the UK has played a critical, indeed defining role – leading powerful coalitions of ambition and securing world-changing commitments over a very wide range of environmental issues.”
He added: “Prime Minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months.
"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.”
Who is Zac Goldsmith?
The Right Honorable Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park is affiliated with the Conservative Party.
He was part of the Foreign Office acting as Minister for the international environment up until today when he resigned saying Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was “simply uninterested” in the environment.
He was Environment Minister under former PM Boris Johnson but was sacked when Liz Truss came into power.
Despite losing the role held under Johnson he retained his job at the Foreign Office where his responsibilities included the international environment.
He joined the Conservative Party in 2005 before beginning his parliamentary career as a Richmond Park representative in 2010.
Lord Goldsmith was also a journalist and spent almost a decade editing The Ecologist, an environmental magazine.
Lord Goldsmith is 48 having been born on January 20, 1975.
What is Zac Goldsmith's net worth?
Following his father - James Goldsmith's death in 1997, Lord Goldsmith is believed to have inherited between £200 million and £300 million out of the reported £1.2 billion estate.
Today, his net worth - according to Celebrity Age Wiki - is estimated to be around US$5 million or roughly £4 million.
He has been married twice. His first wife was Sheherazade Goldsmith, who he was married to from 1999 until 2010.
The pair had three children Thyra, and Uma and James.
Lord Goldsmith then married Alice Miranda Rothschild in 2013 and they had another three children - Dolly, Max and Edie.
The pair have since reportedly split earlier this year.
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