Lord Malloch Brown, the minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, is resigning from the British Labour-government at the end of July, BBC online reports Wednesday.
Lord Malloch Brown worked under Kofi Annan as deputy secretary-general of the UN from April to December 2006 and was previously his right-hand man.
He was also in charge of the UN Development Programme from July 1999 to August 2005.
The minister said in a statement that he had always maintained he would “never do the job forever”. He stated that “personal and family reasons” were behind his decision and stressed that his move was not motivated by the political situation.
Lord Malloch Brown was a member of Gordon Browns Government Of All the Talents – dubbed “goats” by commentators – – non-politicians drafted into government for their expertise in different policy areas when Mr Brown became prime minister in 2007.
