A MINISTER has resigned from the UK Government in scenes described as some of the most dramatic ever seen in the House of Lords.

Lord Agnew of Oulton, a joint Cabinet Office and Treasury minister, confirmed his intention to quit his posts while speaking at the despatch box in the Chamber.

He was updating peers about the £4.3 billion of Covid loans – written off by the Treasury – which Labour said has gone to “fraudsters”.

After telling the Lords he was unhappy with working between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Treasury, Lord Agnew said: “Given that I am the minister for counter-fraud, it would be somewhat dishonest to stay on in that role if I am incapable of doing it properly.”

He added: “It is for this reason that I have sadly decided to tender my resignation as a minister across the Treasury and Cabinet Office with immediate effect.”

He later walked right out of the Chamber.

But who is the, now, former, minister … and what is his history in the Government?

Lord Theodore Agnew became minister of state at the Cabinet Office in 2020, after serving as a junior minister for the school system between 2017 and 2020, under both Theresa May and Boris Johnson’s leadership.

He was also a lead non-executive board member at the Ministry of Justice, and a non-executive board member at the Department for Education.

The National:

Prior to joining government, the Lord founded the venture capital firm Somerton Capital LLP in 2007.

The businessman and life peer was born in Norfolk, before being raised in Oulton and later working in both Canada and Australia. On his return to the UK he founded Town & Country Assistance, an insurance claims management firm, in 1989. It went on to generate annual revenues of £40 million, before it was sold in 2002.

Why did he resign?

The Lord surprised those in attendance by outlining his unhappiness with working between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Treasury.

Once he had finished his speech, the Conservative peer Lord Agnew slammed his folder shut, said “thank and goodbye”, and immediately left the chamber to applause.

He had been required to appear before peers to update them about the £4.3 billion of Covid loans – written off by the Treasury – which Labour said has gone to “fraudsters”.

Lord Agnew agreed the Treasury had prioritised the speed of distributing funds, but added: “What has followed has been nothing less than desperately inadequate.”

He criticised the “woeful” oversight of the bounce back loans by BEIS and the British Business Bank of the panel lenders, adding: “They have been assisted by the Treasury, who appear to have no knowledge or little interest in the consequences of fraud to our economy or our society.”

The Conservative peer said BEIS had “two counter-fraud staff” at the start of the pandemic who would not “engage constructively” with his counter-fraud team in the Cabinet Office.

He went on: “Schoolboy errors were made, for example allowing over 1,000 companies to receive bounce back loans that were not even trading when Covid struck.”

Lord Agnew said he had been “arguing” with Treasury and BEIS officials for nearly two years to “get them to lift their game”, adding: “I have been mostly unsuccessful.”

He went on to raise further concerns, including over duplicate loans and an apparent lack of ability to scrutinise the performance of lenders.

Lord Agnew said he had outlined his “deeply held conviction that the current state of affairs is not acceptable”.

He added: “Given that I am the minister for counter-fraud, it would be somewhat dishonest to stay on in that role if I am incapable of doing it properly, let alone defending our track record.

“It is for this reason that I have sadly decided to tender my resignation as a minister across the Treasury and Cabinet Office with immediate effect.”

Lord Agnew denied the scandals dogging Boris Johnson were the reason he resigned and apologised for the “inconvenience” it would cause the Prime Minister.