LORD GOLDSMITH, the attorney-general, told colleagues this weekend that he decided to jump before he was pushed from government in Gordon Brown’s reshuffle.

Goldsmith, one of the government’s most controversial figures, confided that he “saw the writing on the wall” after authoritative briefings last week suggested that he might be replaced by Lord Carlile, the Liberal Democrat peer.

The minister, who announced on Friday night that he would quit when Tony Blair steps down this week, will have read in last weekend’s Sunday Times of Brown’s decision to remove him from his post. The revelation is believed to have caused tension between the chancellor and the attorney-general early last week.

The final straw came when Goldsmith read reports that Carlile, who is an independent government reviewer of terrorism legislation, might be offered a ministerial role by Brown along with other Liberal Democrats, including Lord Ashdown. It was suggested that the QC and former Liberal Democrat MP could have been appointed attorney-general.

A Whitehall source close to Goldsmith said yesterday: “Peter [Goldsmith] went because of Gordon’s flirtation with Lord Carlile, and the suggestion that there would be a wider constitutional reform of the attorney-general’s role.

He saw the writing on the wall.”

Today Brown will pave the way for a revision of the role, saying it’s “time to look again” at whether the government is too powerful.

Goldsmith told Brown of his decision on Friday at the end of a brief telephone call about government business. The prime minister-in-waiting is said to have expressed surprise at the move to preempt the reshuffle, expected on Thursday, the day Brown takes power. Brown is said to have thanked Goldsmith for “letting me know”.

By then, however, Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, had already scuppered any deals with Brown. He announced, after a meeting with the chancellor on Monday, that no Liberal Democrats would be joining Brown’s government, although he did not rule out the possibility until after he had later discussed the offer with his closest aides.

Brown is likely to shake-up the attorney-general’s powers after the controversy over Goldsmith’s part in the cash-for-honours affair and over the halting of the fraud inquiry into the £43 billion Saudi arms deal with BAE Systems.

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