Keir Starmer has ridiculed Tory claims that Boris Johnson’s Partygate fine is as minor as a speeding offence and said Tory MPs should be “ashamed” of defending him.
The Labour leader hit out after a cabinet minister insisted it is possible for the a “lawmaker to be a lawbreaker”, because Tony Blair was once issued with a parking ticket.
Sir Keir – who also called it “offensive” to argue the Ukraine crisis should keep Mr Johnson in No 10 – said: “It isn’t like a speeding fine at all.
“In all of my days, I’ve had never had anybody break down in front of me because they couldn’t drive at 35mph in a 30-mile zone.
“I’ve had no end of people in tears, in little bits, about complying with [Covid] rules that really, really hurt. them. And I don’t think that the public are going to accept this.
“I also think that the pathetic display of Tory MPs going out to defend the indefensible is something that they will be ashamed of,” he told ITV’s Lorraine programme.
Sir Keir was speaking ahead of the prime minister facing MPs for the first time since the police fined him for breaking his own lockdown rules.
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, claimed he was saying “what he believed to be the truth” when he denied there were any law-breaking No 10 parties – despite attending at least one of them.
He also hinted that Mr Johnson will only accept the police’s verdict grudgingly – referring to the Met force having “taken the view that a fine should be issued”.
In the Commons, Mr Johnson will deny he knowingly misled parliament, something that would require him to quit, under the ministerial code.
The claim will become more difficult to mount if the prime minister, as expected, is fined again for other social gatherings during lockdown – including one allegedly held in his own Downing Street flat.
Sir Keir dismissed the argument, saying: “The prime minister makes the laws, tells the country to obey the laws, then breaks them and then – in my view – lies to parliament about it.”
And he added: “I don’t really buy into this idea, by the way, that Johnson is the only person of any importance in the Ukraine crisis.
“In parliament, there is no difference of approach in relation to standing up for Ukraine across the Conservative Party or across all political parties by the way.”
“So if this prime minister went, it wouldn’t make any difference,” Sir Keir said, adding: “He is using that as a shield and I think that’s pretty offensive.”
The Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, will decide today whether to allow a vote on whether Mr Johnson has brought parliament into contempt – or should be investigated by a committee of MPs.
