David Frost has resigned over the “direction” of Boris Johnson’s government.
Frost, the U.K. minister in charge of Brexit negotiations, “is understood to have handed his resignation to the prime minister a week ago, but was persuaded by Mr Johnson to stay in his post until January,” according to the Mail on Sunday.
Frost was ennobled by prime minister so that the former official could join the government and lead continuing negotiations with Brussels over the implementation of the Brexit deal. He later became a minister for the Cabinet Office in March.
He was previously an adviser to Johnson on Brexit and led negotiations on the trade deal with Brussels, which was announced on Christmas Eve last year.
This year, Frost has led the U.K. negotiating team during talks over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland, but has failed to iron out any of the outstanding issues.
European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič and Frost spoke Friday for the last time this year about the Northern Ireland protocol. Frost said in a statement following the meeting that the U.K. wanted to strike an “interim agreement” with the Commission early in the new year and it was willing to leave out sticky issues such as divergence of regulations, including for manufactured goods, for later — an apparent softening of the U.K. stance.
The Mail quotes a senior government source who says Frost’s departure “had been prompted by the introduction of ‘Plan B’ Covid measures, including vaccine passports,” which have been controversial among many Tories. Almost 100 Conservative MPs rebelled in a House of Commons vote last week over the U.K. prime minister’s COVID-19 policy.
The paper also said Frost was unhappy about tax rises and Johnson’s environmental policies.
The U.K. government announced last week it was delaying post-Brexit checks due January 1 on goods entering Great Britain from the island of Ireland.