Cambridge MP calls for law-breaking Prime Minister and Chancellor to resign over Partygate fines
Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner has called for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak to resign after they were fined for breaking coronavirus laws.
It is the first time a sitting prime minister has been found guilty of breaking the law.
No 10 confirmed they were among those issued with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN) for attending indoor gatherings while lockdown restrictions were in place.
Labour MP Mr Zeichner said: “The two most senior figures in government have been found out. Not only did they break the rules that they imposed on everyone else, they then both lied to Parliament by denying that they had done so.
“At any other time, any senior figure would have taken responsibility and would have been expected to act with honour. Incredibly, these two, and the government of which they are a part, have such contempt for the British people and our institutions that they think the rules that apply to everyone else don’t apply to them.
“This is an important test for the Conservative Party – either they believe in our country, our laws, our institutions, or they believe solely in their entitlement to rule. Tory MPs need to move swiftly to undo the damage Johnson and Sunak have done to our country and to our international reputation.”
Scotland Yard said Mr Johnson had been fined because “on June 19 2020 at the Cabinet Room…. between 1400 and 1500” he had been part of “a gathering of two or more people indoors”, which was banned at the time.
A spokeswoman for Carrie Johnson, the Prime Minister’s wife, also announced that she too had been fined. Like her husband, her FPN was in relation to the June 2020 birthday gathering at No 10 which, according to Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns, saw Mr Johnson “ambushed with a cake”.
Reports have suggested that up to 30 people attended the do and sang Happy Birthday in the Cabinet Room.
The announcement followed the issuing of a new tranche of FPNs in relation to Operation Hillman, which has been probing possible Covid breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall, with more than 50 fines referred to the Acro Criminal Records Office since the inquiry started in early February.
The danger for the Prime Minister is more acute because he told MPs on December 8, 2021, that he had been ‘repeatedly assured’ there were no parties and that no Covid rules were broken. He now faces a challenge to prove he did not mislead MPs: if he did mislead MPs he would have no choice but to resign as per the code of conduct for ministers.
Labour has joined the chorus of demands for the Commons to be recalled from its two-week Easter break and allow Mr Johnson to “tender his resignation” in person to MPs.
The push for a recall has also been made by the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, while Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has been among those of prominence to demand the PM quits.
The Cabinet ministerial defence of Mr Johnson started with culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who argued that the Tory leader had “been clear about what happened” during the Cabinet Room gathering in 2020 and had “offered a full apology”.
“It was a brief gathering in the Cabinet Room, less than 10 minutes during a busy working day,” said Ms Dorries.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, said the police’s decision marked the “first time in the history of our country that a prime minister has been found to be in breach of the law”.
A snap YouGov poll of 2,460 adults taken on Tuesday (April 12) found that 57 per cent of people think the prime minister should go, with the same proportion thinking the same about the Chancellor.
