Rishi Sunak hit by fresh resignation from Boris Johnson ally as PM blasted for 'apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face'

He said: "This Government's apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faces makes continuing in my current role untenable.

"With great reluctance I am therefore stepping down as a Minister in order to focus my energy where it can be more useful."

Goldsmith, a passionate environmentalist and staunch Brexiteer, celebrated the Government's pledges but voiced concern about its inability to deliver tangible change.

The former London Mayoral candidate claimed: "Prime Minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months.

"The problem is not that the Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested.

"That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis."

Goldsmith added: "I will never understand how, with all the knowledge we now have about our fundamental reliance on the natural world and the speed with which we are destroying it, anyone can be uninterested.

"But even if this existential challenge leaves you personally unmoved, there is a world of people who do care very much."

The 48-year-old warned the Prime Minister, who is currently trailing Labour's Sir Keir Starmer by around 20-points, will need to win over the public by addressing climate change.

However, Lord Goldsmith's resignation comes just hours after he was named and shamed by the privileges committee's investigation into whether Johnson misled the House of Commons over Partygate.

Sunak's account of Goldsmith's resignation appeared to contradict the former Minister.

The Prime Minister claimed Goldsmith was asked to apologise for his comments about the privileges committee because they were "incompatible" with his position in Government.

Sunak added: "You have decided to take a different course."

Goldsmith shared a post on social media decrying the probe as a witch-hunt and a kangaroo court.

He added: "Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it."

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries, Priti Patel, Sir Michael Fabricant, Andrea Jenkyns, Mark Jenkinson and Brendan Clarke-Smith were also slammed by the report.

The privileges committee concluded that Johnson misled Parliament and a 90-day suspension for the former Prime Minister.

However, Goldsmith fired back against Sunak's "misleading briefing" in another statement.

He also said as a Minister he was "happy to apologise", adding: "My decision to step down has been a long time coming."

Sunak has been dealt several blows in recent weeks, with numerous resignations.

The Liberal Democrats have ramped up efforts to snatch Somerton & Frome and Mid Bedfordshire.

Labour is hoping to gain Uxbridge & South Ruislip and Selby & Ainsty.

Defeat for Sunak could prove a hammer blow to his electoral chances as time is quickly running out for the Prime Minister to deliver on his five pledges ahead of the next general election.