It is rare to meet a politician with integrity, who keeps their word, and it seems Zac Goldsmith has paid the price for keeping to his.
Prime Minister David Cameron has been accused of being ‘petty and vindictive’ after the Tory MP for Richmond Park had a key Government job taken away from him after he defied him over the EU.
Goldsmith had previously been appointed by the Prime Minister as his personal Downing Street envoy in a bid to fight global warming. The offer was withdrawn a mere two days before Goldsmith’s first assignment, and a matter of hours after he voted in favour of a referendum on the EU.
Goldsmith was due to start work as the Prime Ministers ‘climate change and forest envoy’ last month. His first task was to meet with President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, where forests are at risk. The meeting that was to be held in London last month was publicly announced. Goldsmith was then barred from attending and the job offer was revoked.
The Richmond Park MP said last night: ‘I was always going to vote for the referendum motion, not least because I promised my constituents I would.
‘But the Government was very unwise to impose a three-line whip on Conservative MPs. It created all sorts of problems for itself that could have been avoided.’
Goldsmith refused to comment on the job offer being revoked, but said: ‘Reversing the decline of forestry worldwide is one of the most important battles faced by our species.
‘I don’t need a formal government role to pursue that work.’
Two days earlier, he was among 81 Tory MPs who voted in favour of a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU and ignored Mr Cameron’s order to toe the line.
A Government source had this to say: ‘You cannot have someone rebelling against the Government one day and walking into a government job the next. Not when two ministerial aides resigned over the EU vote. But Zac is a great guy and we hope we can revive this job offer in time.’
A fellow MP disagreed and told the Daily Mail: ‘It was petty and vindictive to cancel this post. Zac had every right to vote in favour of a referendum on Europe.
‘The Government constantly says it is giving top priority to efforts to curb climate change and yet it is prepared to risk that to punish an MP for sticking to his principles on the EU. It is the kind of thing that brings politics into disrepute.’
Well-placed government sources said Goldsmith had spent months in talks with Government officials about the climate change and forest envoy role.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman had all given the go-ahead for his appointment
Read Frost’s interview with Zac Goldsmith