Both men faced immediate calls to resign from Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer and former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. Both Starmer and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davy have called for parliament to withdraw from its Easter holiday vote of no confidence in the prime minister. Downing Street said the prime minister’s fine was a surprise party for his wife Carrie’s 56th birthday at the No. 10 Cabinet on June 19, 2020, when a lawmaker told Johnson he “fell into an ambush with a cake.” It is believed that Mr Sunak’s penalty stems from the same fact. Ms Johnson also faces a fine, a spokeswoman confirmed. The fines are among at least 30 imposed over the past fortnight and announced today by the Metropolitan Police, raising the total number of fines for parties violating lockdowns on Downing Street and Whitehall to more than 50. No size details available fines or other FPN recipients have been released. Current developments are unlikely to mark the end of the Partygate investigation into the prime minister, who is said to have been involved in at least three other lockdowns. Police said they were continuing to evaluate “significant amounts of investigative material” that could lead to further fines. Johnson is the first UK Prime Minister to be punished for breaking the law while serving on Downing Street 10. The news of his fine sparked renewed calls for an apology for misleading the Communities, insisting last December that Covid’s rules had been adhered to at No. 10. The prime minister told the public in December that he had been “repeatedly assured that there was no party and that no Covid rules had been violated”. And Mr. Sunak assured the deputies on November 21, 2021: “No, I did not attend any party.” Ms Davidson said: “The Prime Minister has introduced rules restricting freedom for public health reasons. This caused great difficulties for those who were separated from their sick or dying loved ones. He then broke the rules he imposed on the country and lost the moral authority to lead. Must go away.” While critics of the Tories refrained from asking for the prime minister’s head in a time of crisis over the war in Ukraine, there was a marked absence of Conservative MPs who came to defend the prime minister after his fine. Faithful MP Michael Fabricant said that “when the Prime Minister told Parliament that he did not believe he was breaking any law, I do not think he thought he was breaking the law”. And Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary, James Dandridge, tweeted that the prime minister had “apologized and accepted responsibility,” adding: “He is the right person to lead the party and the country. We must be united in our determination and move forward under his leadership. “ However, in the hours after the news broke, there were no public statements of support from Johnson’s cabinet, except for Nandin Doris, who wrote on Twitter: “The Prime Minister is at his best when he meets the British priorities. people who will continue to do so. . » Many Tories have set themselves on fire to see how badly the scandal affects the party’s performance in the crucial local elections across Britain on May 5 or until the full publication of Whitehall Sue Gray’s mandarin report after the Met survey is completed. Representatives of families who lost members of the Covid pandemic said it was “impossible” for either the prime minister or Mr Sunak to continue in office. Lobby Akinnola, a spokesman for the Covid-19 Beeaved Families for Justice, said it was “incredibly painful” to think the prime minister was breaking his own lock-in rules to party at a time when loved ones were dying and relatives were attending funerals. in a handful of attendees. “The fact that Boris Johnson and Risi Sunak then lied about it, and would have continued to do so if the police had not intervened, is really embarrassing,” he said. “They violated the law. But even worse, they took us all for mugs. “When we met the Prime Minister in the garden of Downing Street – the same one who had these parties – he looked us in the eye and said that he had done everything he could to save our loved ones. Now we know it was a lie. “There is simply no way the prime minister or the chancellor can continue. “Their dishonesty has caused an unspeakable wound to the mourners.” Confirming the fines, a spokesman for No. 10 said: “The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer received a notice today that the Metropolitan Police intends to issue them regular penalty notices.” A spokesman later added: “The Meteorological Police have now explained that the FPN issued to the Prime Minister will be related to the following incident: interiors in the locker room at 10 Downing Street. ‘ Sir Keir said: “The British public has made the most unthinkable, heartbreaking sacrifices and many have been overwhelmed with guilt. Guilt that they do not see elderly relatives, do not go to funerals or weddings, or even when they see the birth of their own children. “But the culprits are the prime minister and the chancellor. They dishonored all this sacrifice, they dishonored their office. “It is the first time in the history of our country that a prime minister was found to be breaking the law and then he repeatedly lied to the public about it. “Britain deserves better, they have to leave.” In addition to the birthday party, Mr. Johnson was present at a “Bring Your Own Drink” gathering in Garden No. 10 on May 20, 2020, and participated in a Zoom Christmas quiz on December 15, 2020, when he was photographed framed by two of his members. staff. It is also thought that he may have been present at an “Abba” party hosted by his wife Carrie in their apartment above Downing Street 11 to celebrate the departure of former assistant Dominic Cummings on November 13, 2020. A Treasury Department source said earlier that the chancellor had attended the birthday party by chance, having gone to the Cabinet at No. 10 waiting for a strategy meeting for Covid. It is the only event attended by the 12 under investigation by Operation Hillman of the Met. Penalties for Covid violations were set at £ 100 at the height of the pandemic, but could be doubled with subsequent violations up to a maximum of 4 6,400. Participating in a large rally could result in a fine of £ 400 in a first offense and organizers of a large event face maximum penalties of £ 10,000. The prospect of an imminent uprising by Tory lawmakers to oust the prime minister seemed slim, with the critic Sir Roger Gale, who had previously written a letter of no confidence to Johnson, saying it would not be right to change leaders as war rages in Ukraine. . “I do not think the prime minister will lead us to the next election,” said the veteran Conservative MP. “There will come a time when the prime minister will have to face this, but this is not the time now. “We are in the middle of an international crisis and I am not prepared to give Vladimir Putin the comfort of thinking that we are going to overthrow the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and destabilize the coalition against Putin. “We will have to wait until we face the main crisis, which is Ukraine and Donbass.” Sir Roger was among about a dozen Tory lawmakers who publicly said they had submitted letters of confidence in the wake of the Partygate scandal in February. Others are believed to have done so privately, but the total never reached the 54-year-old required to vote for Mr Johnson’s leadership, and some letters were withdrawn after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who withdrew his call for the prime minister to step down after the Russian invasion, said: “In the middle of the war in Europe, when Vladimir Putin commits war crimes and the United Kingdom is its biggest ally. “As President (Volodymyr) Zelensky said at the weekend, it would not be right for the prime minister to step down at this time.”
