The Tory leader has become increasingly willing to disregard constitutional standards for short-term and politically self-interested reasons
Boris Johnson does not care about parliamentary customs or decency or the truth. If he did then he would have gone long ago. By breaking the lockdown rules he had made, the prime minister breached the ministerial code – which expresses the country’s constitutional conventions – on two counts.
First, despite his denial, Mr Johnson has “knowingly misled parliament”. This is a resigning matter because parliament could not do its job to scrutinise the government without truthful ministerial responses to MPs’ questions. Mr Johnson’s claim of ignorance of his government’s policy on the biggest issue of the day is risible. He may face many more fines. It seems fanciful to go on claiming that such gatherings, lubricated by alcohol, were impossible to distinguish from the business of the state.
