The Labour leader’s decision to resign if fined is a bold gamble that will put pressure on a beleaguered prime minister
Sir Keir Starmer has done the right thing and offered to resign if he is fined over breaking lockdown rules. His decision is in stark contrast to Boris Johnson. Whereas Sir Keir is prepared to fall on his sword, Mr Johnson has let others take the blame. Mr Johnson did apologise after being given a penalty notice by the Metropolitan police for Covid breaches. He is the first prime minister to be punished for breaking the law when the ministerial code expects him to follow it. But he refused to resign.
It would be a cruel twist of fate if Sir Keir was the only one of the pair to go. Mr Johnson has not only been fined, he faces being fined for a number of other occasions. More than 50 people have paid penalties over Downing Street parties during lockdown. Mr Johnson is in the grip of a SW1 pincer movement: squeezed on one side by civil servant Sue Gray’s imminent report into Downing Street’s partying culture and on another flank by a House of Commons privileges committee inquiry into whether or not the prime minister lied to MPs. Damning verdicts resulting from either should be enough to finish off Mr Johnson.
