Iran Press/ Europe: With an election expected next year and the Conservative Party trailing in opinion polls, the party is split between those loyal to Sunak and those, like Goldsmith, who think former prime minister Boris Johnson has been unfairly sidelined.
Goldsmith said on Friday Britain had lost its global leadership role on climate issues. He rejected an attempt by Sunak to frame his resignation as a reaction to being asked to apologise for criticism of a parliamentary committee investigation into Johnson.
Goldsmith said he was happy to make an apology for his criticism of the Privileges Committee.
"The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested," said Goldsmith, who sits in parliament's upper chamber and held the title of Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment.
How Rishi Sunak reacted to Goldsmith's resignation
Sunak accepted Goldsmith's resignation in a letter released by the prime minister's office on Friday.
"I accept your resignation ... you were asked to apologize for your comments about the Privileges Committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a Minister of the Crown. You have decided to take a different course," Sunak said.
The prime minister went on to say that he was "grateful" for Goldsmith's service, calling him a "vocal advocate for some of the most important issues that the UK and the world face today."
Some of Johnson's allies have been increasingly critical of the government since he resigned from parliament earlier this month in protest over a report that found he had deliberately misled lawmakers about COVID lockdown parties.
Goldsmith was on Thursday reprimanded by a parliamentary committee which criticized the behavior of a group of Johnson loyalists for seeking to intimidate the panel that criticised his conduct during lockdown.
In his resignation letter, Goldsmith said Britain had "visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature".
That echoed a report published earlier this week by the government's climate advisers, who said Britain had lost its position as a global leader on climate action and was not doing enough to meet its mid-century net zero target.
In his resignation letter, Goldsmith highlighted some of the UK's successes in protecting the environment and pointed to what he said were "unprecedented commitments from countries" at the COP26 summit, which was held in Scotland in 2021.
Goldsmith said the UK had been "the driving force behind successful global efforts," including the push for measures to protect 30% of the world's land and oceans by the end of the decade.
"But I have been horrified as, bit by bit we have abandoned these commitments — domestically and on the world stage," the outgoing minister said.
He expressed concern that the UK had "visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature."
The minister's resignation comes after the House of Commons privileges committee identified him as one of eight supporters of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in parliament who had tried to undermine their "Partygate" investigation.
The committee found that Johnson had deliberately misled Parliament about the COVID lockdown-flouting parties.
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