He says he will pay the penalties issued by the Met police, but he is not resigning – at least, not yet. Are Tory MPs prepared to push the prime minister out of office?
This week, the Metropolitan police issued more than 50 fixed-penalty notices to government officials. At the top of the list was Boris Johnson, sanctioned, along with his wife and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, for attending his birthday party on 19 June 2020 in the cabinet room while the UK was under lockdown.
The prime minister is reportedly ‘mortified’ to have broken the rules, saying he did not realise he was in breach of laws that his administration had put in place. He has promised to pay the fine, but appears to have no intention of resigning. Jonathan Freedland tells Nosheen Iqbal that never before has a sitting prime minister been found to have broken the law. But the timing of the Met’s fines, and the fact that the chancellor is not resigning either, might work in Johnson’s favour.
