Downing Street has refused to say if Boris Johnson will resign if he is fined over lockdown-breaching parties at No 10 after the police announced it is issuing fines for 20 cases of lockdown breaches.
Mr Johnson has not yet been informed whether he will receive a fine, his official spokesperson said but added that they are “committed” to ensuring the public is informed if the prime minister is given a penalty notice.
Twelve events across Downing Street and Whitehall are being investigated between May 2020 and April 2021, six of which the prime minister is alleged to have attended.
Labour has accused the prime minister of being “not fit to lead us” as Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader said the prime minister should resign if he is fined today for the partygate scandal.
“If the prime minister is fined because he has broken his own rules then I think his position is untenable,” she said.
In a statement, Scotland Yard said that cases were being referred today to the ACRO Criminal Records Office, which will have responsibility for issuing fixed penalty notices, which are set at £100 for the first offence.
Matt Hancock says PM should not consider resigning if fined over Partygate
Former health secretary Matt Hancock said that Boris Johnson should not resign if he is fined by the Met Police over the lockdown-breaking parties held in No 10.
Speaking to BBC News this afternoon, Mr Hancock added: “On Covid, the PM got the big calls right, if you think about it most countries are still in covid restrictions…we were one of the first countries out because of getting those calls right”
PM ‘unfit to lick boots of public’, says Lammy
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has said that the prime minister is “unfit to lick the boots of the public” over the fines issued today over the string of lockdown-breaching parties held in Downing Street.
Tweeting this afternoon, Mr Lammy said: “Boris Johnson said no one broke lockdown laws while boozing in Number 10 as the country stayed at home.
“We all knew it, but the 20 police fines issued today are the final proof. He lied and lied and lied. It’s pathological. Unfit to lick the boots of the public.
Politics Explained: Will Boris Johnson survive Partygate despite police issuing fines?
It should be a hugely significant event. Metropolitan Police detectives have concluded that the law was broken on numerous occasions at Downing Street and Whitehall departments during the Covid-19 crisis.
Can Boris Johnson weather another storm? Click here for Adam Forrest’s mid-afternoon digest:
Fines show No 10 failed public, say bereaved families
Bereaved families who lost loved ones to Covid-19 have said that the fines issued to government officials today over the Partygate saga show that No 10 failed the public over the course of the pandemic.
Hannah Brady, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “A year down the line, far from offering closure, the prime minister’s team are being fined for breaking their own rules regularly and blatantly. The same rules that families across the country stuck with even when they suffered terribly as a consequence
“It’s crystal clear now that whilst the British Public rose to the challenge of making enormous sacrifices to protect their loved ones and their communities, those at 10 Downing Street failed.
“Frankly, bereaved families have seen enough. The PM should have resigned months ago over this. By dragging it out longer all he is doing is pouring more salt on the wounds of those who have already suffered so much.”
Simon Case should reveal fine if he gets one, says Adam Wagner
Human Rights barrister Adam Wagner tweeted that cabinet secretary Simon Case should reveal his fine if he is issued one.
The Metropolitan Police has announced that 20 cases of lockdown breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall will be made the subject of fixed penalty notices, the first tranche of fines to be issued over the “Partygate” scandal that rocked Boris Johnson’s government this winter.
My colleague Joe Sommerlad has more.
Our home affairs editor Lizzie Dearden on why Covid ‘laws’ are wrongly being referred to as ‘rules’:
What exactly have Boris Johnson and his officials said about social gatherings during the partygate saga?
Take a look at our Twitter thread of what exactly the prime minister said about the lockdown-breaking parties when they came to surface.
Labour MP Nadia Whittome joined the host of Labour politicians criticising the prime minister for “lies”.
She said: The #partygate fines are more evidence of the PM’s lies, even if he isn’t given one.
He lied when he said ‘all guidance was followed completely’. He lied when he said ‘there was no party’.
He said he ‘must take responsibility’.
If he doesn’t resign today it’s yet another lie.’”
Daughter who lost her father to Covid says ‘the buck stops with Boris Johnson’
A woman who lost her father to Covid-19 has said “the buck stops with Boris Johnson“ after it was announced the first 20 fines will be issued over alleged lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
Safiah Ngah, from Islington, north London, lost her father Zahari Ngah, 68, to coronavirus in February 2021.
The 29-year-old said it was “really frustrating and it makes me incredibly angry that we even have to hear that the Government didn’t take their own rules seriously.
“I think there’s a real discrepancy between the way that the public viewed the pandemic and the way that the Government viewed it, and it really feels like they were just taking it as a bit of a joke.
“I think that the buck stops with Boris Johnson. It’s absolutely his responsibility and as the leader, he should take responsibility for what goes wrong.”
