British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rejected renewed calls for him to resign after the police confirmed there were violations of lockdown rules in the centre of the UK government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that 20 “fixed penalty notices” over these parties would be referred to the ACRO Criminal Records Office, which will then be responsible for issuing the fines. The move means the police had ruled that the law had been broken.
At Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, suggested that Johnson should resign for misleading Parliament by denying the allegations of rule-breaking during the lockdowns.
Starmer said: “He told the House no rules were broken in Downing Street during lockdown. The police have now concluded there was widespread criminality. The Ministerial Code says that ministers who knowingly mislead the House should resign. Why is he still here?”
Johnson replied: “Hang on a minute, we do at least expect some consistency from this human weathervane—it was only a week or so ago he was saying that I shouldn’t resign. What is his position?”
He was referring to Starmer’s suggestion earlier this month that Labour would prioritise the war in Ukraine over the “partygate” probe.
Asked if he would withdraw his call for Johnson to resign in view of the ongoing conflict, he told ITV News on March 6, “At the moment the prime minister is obviously concentrating on the job in hand and we stand united as the United Kingdom on that issue.”
The prime minister insisted that, as the Metropolitan Police continues its investigation into the scandal, he would “get on with our job.”
“That means tackling the cost of living, addressing the UK’s energy supply, and improving education,” he said.
Meanwhile, Downing Street clashed with Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab over the Met’s conclusion that lockdown laws had been broken.
Raab told the BBC earlier on Wednesday that it was “clear there were breaches of the law.”
But the prime minister’s official spokesman said Number 10 was maintaining its position of refusing to accept the law was broken.
“The Met have come to a conclusion and have started a process which relates to 20 fines and we respect that,” the spokesman said.
“We will not be commenting further on the detail of what happened until the investigation is concluded. It simply would not be right for me to give the prime minister’s view in the midst of an ongoing Met police investigation,” he said.
