Liz Truss ousts top adviser who told radio show she would prefer it if Boris Johnson quit over Partygate scandal
- Baroness Morrissey resigned after suggesting she wanted Boris Johnson to quit
- The Conservative peer was the Foreign Office’s lead non-executive director
- Liz Truss made it clear she would sack her for saying PM was ‘in the wrong job’
- Foreign Secretary believed her comments made the job ‘untenable’, sources say
A Conservative peer was forced out as a Foreign Office adviser last night – just hours after suggesting she wanted to see Boris Johnson quit over Partygate.
Baroness Morrissey, a pro-Brexit banker, resigned as the office’s lead non-executive director after Foreign Secretary Liz Truss made it clear she would sack her.
She stepped down following talks with the department’s permanent secretary Sir Philip Barton. Sources said the Foreign Secretary believed her comments made the job ‘untenable’.
The 55-year-old financier, who has nine children, was ennobled by Mr Johnson two years ago, but yesterday she told LBC radio that the PM was ‘just in the wrong job’.
She said: ‘Wavering MPs, when they saw the booing of the Prime Minister outside St Paul’s [at the Platinum Jubilee thanksgiving service], they would see that he had actually become a liability rather than an asset.
‘I would rather he didn’t [carry on as Prime Minister]… I don’t see any contrition. He said he would bash on, that’s not what we want to hear. Tax cuts one minute after we’ve just raised them, that’s not going to help.’
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss made it clear she would sack Foreign Office adviser Baroness Morrissey, a pro-Brexit banker, after she suggested she wanted to see Boris Johnson quit over Partygate
The 55-year-old financier stepped down following talks with the department’s permanent secretary Sir Philip Barton as source said the Foreign Secretary believed her comments made the job ‘untenable’
Last year, Mr Johnson faced calls to sack Baroness Morrissey after she put up a tweet which appeared to deny the extent of the Covid pandemic
Baroness Morrissey, who has nine children, was ennobled by Mr Johnson two years ago, but yesterday she told LBC radio that the PM was ‘just in the wrong job’
Miss Truss is believed to have instructed Sir Philip to sack Baroness Morrissey but in the meeting she offered her resignation.
A source close to the Foreign Secretary said: ‘Liz instructed Philip Barton to sack Helena. She thought the comments were outrageous and made her position untenable.’
Foreign Office permanent secretary Sir Philip Barton who held talks with Baroness Morrissey before she stepped down
Another source added: ‘Liz thought her [Morrissey’s] comments about the PM were ridiculous. She had to go, which is very sad.’
The peer ran Newton Investment Management for 15 years and held a senior role at Legal and General, managing assets of almost £6billion.
Last year, Mr Johnson faced calls to sack her after she put up a tweet which appeared to deny the extent of the Covid pandemic.
She wrote: ‘The data shows we are NOT in a pandemic. If people were dropping dead in the street we would notice and not go to M&S and have all those football matches.’
In an apparent reference to the Chinese Communist Party, she added: ‘CCP fake videos started this. It is ridiculous.’
Meanwhile, nine Tory frontbenchers have still failed to voice their loyalty after Monday’s no confidence vote. Rumours of a snap reshuffle to shore up support for the PM have so far failed to materialise.
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