After a third Tory MP voiced his concerns, the prime minister dismissed questions about whether he had lost the moral authority to lead the country and said he would comment further next week. Repeatedly pushing for action against those who partyed on Downing Street in defiance of strict quarantine rules or whether he could face further fines, Johnson said people would have to wait until the House of Commons returned from the party. of Easter to hear his own. view. “I said a lot about it, I think it was Tuesday,” he told reporters at Kent Flydd, announcing plans to send more refugees to the Channel in small boats to Rwanda. for editing. “I will say more when I inform parliament, as you can imagine, next week. “You will probably have to wait until then to say more about it.” A second installment of the pre-determined fines was issued by the Metropolitan Police Operation Hillman team on Tuesday, with Johnson, his wife, Carrie, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak each having to pay 50 50 for attending an illegal party. for the Prime Minister’s birthday. . Johnson’s allies downplayed the seriousness of the violation, saying it was only present for nine minutes and that it was not a planned event. However, Johnson has questioned whether he will resign if he is fined again by the Scotland Yard. “I’m redirecting you to what I said earlier, I’m afraid it will not surprise you much,” he told the Guardian. “I said a lot about it earlier in the week. “I think I have to wait until parliament returns to fully inform parliament.” Johnson is likely to face a barrage of questions when he makes a statement to the public next week, including the suggestion that he may have misled parliament by assuring lawmakers on December 1 that “all instructions have been fully complied with at No. 10”. The date of full publication of Sue Gray’s report also remains unclear, as the Met’s ongoing investigation prevents the senior civil servant in charge of Partygate’s investigation from disclosing details of the dozens of interviews and data gathered by her team. So far, only a handful of Tory MPs have made public their concerns about the fines. Karen Bradley, the former minister of Northern Ireland, became the last to put pressure on Johnson. Speaking to her local news website, StokeonTrentLive, she said: “Voters know that I was clear that those who set the rules should not violate them, either intentionally or otherwise. The public is right to expect the highest standards of conduct from its leaders. “I’m proud of the British values of democracy, individual liberty, mutual respect, tolerance and the rule of law, and I have had the privilege of promoting these values around the world as a Member of Parliament and during my tenure as Minister. “But we will lose the right to promote these values if we do not support them ourselves.” He added: “While the breach of the law on Downing Street is unforgivable, I know very well that Europe is in a precarious position and that we must all act responsibly so as not to aggravate the situation. “I will spend the next few days consulting my voters and deciding what action to take after listening to them. “But I want to make it clear that if I had been a minister who had violated the laws I passed, I would have resigned now.” Bradley follows Conservative MPs Nigel Mills and Craig Whittaker who criticize Johnson for violating the Covid rules, as well as Justice Secretary David Wolfson, who resigned Wednesday night. Home Secretary Pretty Patel, who has been much more silent in defending the prime minister as her role covers law and order, made the first public comments since the fines were imposed. During a trip to Rwanda, he said he would not “give current comment as the investigation progresses” but that Johnson “had apologized very thoroughly and should be respected.”
