Boris Johnson back under pressure over partygate as first fines to be issued to rule breakers

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that investigators will begin handing out 20 fines over parties and gatherings held across Whitehall during Covid measures, the force said yesterday.

The Prime Minister is not thought to be set to receive a fixed penalty notice (FPN) with this first wave, but the findings mean that Scotland Yard have concluded that the law was broken by events.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman refused to be drawn yesterday afternoon on whether the Prime Minister would resign if fined, but Number 10 have pledged that they will reveal if he receives one, as they will do for top civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.

No 10 staff will not need to come forward if they get a FPN, but they will be asked to update their vetting information depending on their security clearance.

He also declined to say whether fined individuals can carry on working in No 10, though former chief whip Mark Harper suggested law-breaking civil servants or special advisers would have to be sacked.

In a tweet, the Tory MP posted a screenshot of the Civil Service Code, highlighting a passage saying they must “comply with the law”.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the war in Ukraine said that the war in Ukraine should not be used as an excuse to stop the Prime Minister facing scrutiny.

“After over two months of police time, 12 parties investigated and over a hundred people questioned under caution, Boris Johnson’s Downing Street has been found guilty of breaking the law,” she said.

“The culture is set from the very top. The buck stops with the Prime Minister, who spent months lying to the British public, which is why he has got to go.”

Chancellor and Richmond MP Rishi Sunak is also among the people who were sent a questionnaire by the Met to answer for their involvement in the events under investigation.

More than 100 were sent out, including to those who attended a “bring your own booze” event in the Downing Street back garden in May 2020.

Meanwhile, a woman from Leeds whose father died with coronavirus has said Mr Johnson has “no authority” on Covid.

Kathryn de Prudhoe’s father Tony Clay died with Covid nearly two years ago in April 2020.

She has now said that the Prime Minister “simply must resign” and questioned whether he was the man to lead the country in the recovery from the pandemic.

Psychotherapist Ms De Prudhoe, 47, said: “His reputation on the national and global stage is already in tatters, and now Covid cases and hospitalisations are once again rising rapidly.

“He has no authority to ask anyone to do the right things to get the situation back under control,” she said.

“His ‘living with Covid’ plan is reckless and failing.

“But his desire to save his own skin means he’s willing to let more people become seriously ill and die.

“This isn’t leadership, it’s self-preservation at all costs.”

She has previously said that her father was “a really fit, physically active man”, adding that his death was “a really devastating shock”.