In a statement issued on April 4, Helen MacNamara, who served as director-general for propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office between 2018 and 2020, apologised for her “error of judgment.”
MacNamara, who now works for the Premier League, said: “I am sorry for the error of judgment I have shown. I have accepted and paid the fixed penalty notice.”
According to UK media reports, she was handed the fine in connection with a leaving party held in the Cabinet Office on June 18, 2020, to mark the departure of a private secretary.
She was among the initial group of people to be issued with a fine following the Metropolitan Police investigation into illegal parties held in Downing Street and Whitehall in breach of England’s COVID-19 restrictions and is the first to confirm they have paid a penalty.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced calls from both opposition parties and his own Conservative backbench MPs for him to resign over the so-called “partygate” scandal.
But Downing Street said on April 4 that Johnson has not received a fixed penalty notice.
Johnson’s official spokesman declined to say whether the prime minister believes COVID-19 laws were broken.
“The prime minister wants to comment at the conclusion of the process and not at the middle of it,” he said.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Johnson is “unfit for office” because he “not only misled the public about this, he has presided over widespread criminality in his home and his office.”
He called for the names of all senior officials fined for Downing Street parties to be made public.
Meanwhile, Cabinet ministers have sought to play down the impact of the scandal on Johnson’s leadership.
Simon Hart, the Welsh secretary of state, told Sky News that the “vast majority” of his constituents want “contrition” and “apology” from the prime minister, but not his resignation.
He said the “world has moved on” and the war in Ukraine has helped to “contextualise” the scandal.
Speaking on TalkRadio, he said he was “glad” the partygate saga is “now coming to a conclusion” as “we’re now dealing with something of such seriousness and such horror.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brexit opportunities minister, suggested Johnson had not misled Parliament over the row because he had simply been repeating incorrect information provided to him by officials.
“The prime minister said he was told the rules were followed, but that turns out not to be correct, and we know that fines have now been issued, but the prime minister can only work on the information he is given,” he told LBC.
