A UNIVERSITY professor has slammed the government after the Prime Minister’s anti-corruption champion was forced to quit.
John Penrose resigned yesterday morning, citing Boris Johnson’s leadership failings over Downing Street’s lockdown parties, and called for the prime minister to do the same.
His resignation came ahead of a confidence vote in the prime minister last night, which saw 148 Tory MPs vote for Mr Johnson to be ousted as party leader; 180 votes were needed.
Despite Mr Johnson winning the vote and remaining as party leader, Professor Robert Barrington, an anti-corruption expert at the University of Sussex, said Mr Penrose’s resignation is unprecedented.
"This is the first time that a holder of the post of Prime Minister's anti-corruption champion has resigned, and it is hugely significant that someone with inside knowledge has had enough,” said Prof Barrington.
“John Penrose was being asked to defend the indefensible, and his resignation reflects the fact that this government has experienced unusually high levels of corruption, corruption risk and breaches of integrity.”
"Whether Johnson survived or was replaced, a litmus test for the government from now on will be how quickly a new anti-corruption champion is appointed, how soon the promised anti-corruption strategy is published, and whether that strategy has a strong focus on political corruption."
The Tories says they want to draw a “line in the sand” following the confidence vote, however with 41 per cent of their MPs turning on the prime minister, his future remains uncertain.
Several high-profile Conservative MPs and cabinet ministers have come out to fiercely support Mr Johnson, including Nadine Dorries, who told Sky News last night that donors will not invest should the prime minister go.
“We know, just now, that the Conservative party donors have said themselves that they aren’t going to support the party if the prime minister is removed,” she said.
“£80 million those donors have donated to the Conservative party – it’s those donors that have helped us to win the election.”
It has led critics, including political commentator Marina Purkiss, to label the Conservative party as corrupt.
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