London:
Former Brexit negotiator David Frost has resigned from government, The Mail on Sunday reported, marking another potentially major blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The paper said Frost would leave his position in January due to “disillusionment” with the direction of government policy, citing an unnamed senior government source.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond when AFP contacted him about the reported loss of a trusted ally.
The weekly reported online late Saturday that Frost had resigned a week ago, but was persuaded to stay on until the new year.
The source told the paper Frost was opposed to the government’s new coronavirus restrictions, focus on net-zero climate targets and tax hikes.
Johnson is already reeling from an uprising by 100 of his MPs during a parliamentary vote on coronavirus measures and the staggering loss of a 23,000 majority seat in a by-election.
That was partly due to a slew of reports that his staff and aides held parties last Christmas despite virus restrictions in place at the time.
The loss in the midterm elections to Johnson’s Conservatives fueled speculation about a leadership challenge, with Frost possibly targeting a top job tilt.
The deputy leader of the main opposition Labor party, Angela Rayner, said the resignation “shows a government in utter chaos as the country faces some uncertain weeks ahead”.
“@BorisJohnson is no match for the job. We deserve better than this joke,” she tweeted.
‘Great moment’
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen warned Johnson “was running out of time and friends to deliver on the promises and discipline of a true Conservative government”.
“Lord Frost has made it clear, 100 Conservative backbenchers have made it clear, but most importantly the people of North Shropshire have done so too,” he wrote on Twitter.
And Arlene Foster, who stepped down as Northern Ireland’s first minister over trade arrangements after Brexit in the British province, said it had huge ramifications.
“Lord Frost’s resignation from cabinet is a big moment for the government, but huge for those of us who thought he would perform for NI,” she wrote on Twitter.
Frost has been in talks for weeks about the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which regulates trade between the British mainland of England, Scotland and Wales, and Northern Ireland, and with the European Union.
London wants the agreement it signed last year to be scrapped, claiming it isn’t working. But Brussels is against it.
Frost is mainly focused on revamping the governance of the agreement and objects to the fact that the EU’s highest court in Luxembourg has power over its implementation.
He appeared to disagree with his government on the issue earlier this week, when a government spokesperson appeared to suggest that its stance on the EU’s role as arbitrator would be watered down somewhat.
The 56-year-old Frost was appointed as Johnson’s so-called EU “sherpa” shortly after the British leader took office in July 2019, becoming chief negotiator after helping finalize last year’s divorce deal.
A career diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his resume includes positions in Brussels during the 1990s and as ambassador to Denmark from 2006 to 2008.
More recently, Frost was chief executive of the Scotch Whiskey Association for nearly three years and briefly chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)