Zac Goldsmith axed as environment minister by Liz Truss

Boris Johnson ally loses brief overseeing animal welfare and will no longer attend cabinet

Zac Goldsmith has lost ministerial role on animal welfare (PA)

Boris Johnson ally Zac Goldsmith has been axed as an environment minister and told he will no longer be attending Liz Truss’s cabinet, it has emerged.

The Conservative minister has been stripped of his brief overseeing animal welfare at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), government sources confirmed to The Independent.

Mr Goldsmith appeared to issue a warning to Ms Truss in an exit letter to Defra staff, saying the government has “so much more to do to turn the tide” on the environment, according to The Guardian, which first reported on his sacking.