West Sussex MP is PM’s new policy chief
New role for Arundel and South Downs MP Andrew Griffith but pressure grows on Boris Johnson as Bognor Regis and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb submits letter of no confidence
A West Sussex MP has been promoted to be Boris Johnson’s new policy chief.
Arundel and South Downs MP Andrew Griffith, who was the UK’s net zero business champion and one of Mr Johnson’s Parliamentary Private Secretaries since September, has been brought in to replace Munira Mirza as minister for policy and head of the Prime Minister’s policy unit.
Defending himself in the House of Commons after Sue Gray’s update on parties at Downing Street held in breach of Covid-19 restrictions, the Prime Minister referenced Labour leader Keir Starmer’s record as Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.
Mr Johnson said: “He spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can make out.”
The remarks have been widely condemned, however the PM has yet to withdraw them. Instead he said the point he was making was that although Mr Starmer had nothing personally to do with those decisions, he did have a responsibility for the organisation as a whole at the time.
On Thursday, the Spectator magazine revealed Ms Mirza, Downing Street’s head of policy, had resigned over the attack on Mr Starmer.
In a letter she said it was ‘wrong’ of Mr Johnson to imply that Mr Starmer was personally responsible for allowing Jimmy Savile to ‘escape justice’.
She added: “There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion.
“This was not the usual cut and thrust of politics, it was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse.”
Speaking about his new role on Twitter, Mr Griffith said: “I am sad about Munira’s decision to leave but I look forward to helping the excellent No10 policy unit team, my Parliamentary colleagues and ministers all work together to deliver a focussed agenda based on strong Conservative principles.
“With the benefit of the strong mandate that the Prime Minister obtained at the 2019 General Election and his leadership through the Covid pandemic, the No10 Policy Unit has a vital role to play delivering policies that reflect the priorities of people across the UK.”
Shaun Gunner, Conservative leader of Arun District Council, congratulated Mr Griffith on his appointment. On Twitter he said Mr Griffith ‘has the skills, experience, determination and political intelligence to take this forward. The Prime Minister has made a very good move here, and we will see the positive impact this has’.
But Lib Dem group leader at Mid Sussex District Council Alison Bennett, who stood against Mr Griffith in the 2019 general election, said: “His awful judgement on this will hang around him like a bad smell once Boris Johnson has gone.”
Meanwhile, Nick Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, joined calls for the Prime Minister to resign.
Writing for The Telegraph website on Friday, Mr Gibb revealed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson and said that ‘to restore trust we need to change the Prime Minister’.
He is the second Tory MP in West Sussex to call on the PM to go, following remarks made by East Worthing and Shoreham’s Tim Loughton.
Mr Gibb wrote: “My constituents are furious about the double standards – imposing harsh and, to my mind, necessary restrictions as we and the world sought to defend ourselves against this new and deadly virus, while at the same time flagrantly disregarding those rules within the fortress of Downing Street.”