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More than 100 fines issued over Downing Street party scandal

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More than 100 fines issued over Downing Street party scandal

Boris Johnson is facing pressure to resign over partygate (Picture: SWNS)

Provided by Metro Boris Johnson is facing pressure to resign over partygate (Picture: SWNS)

At least 50 more fines have been issued for breaches of Covid rules in Whitehall and Downing Street during lockdown.

The Met announced today that 100 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNS) have been handed out as a result of Operation Hillman – the investigation into the partygate scandal.

No 10 confirmed Boris Johnson was not among the cohort of rule-breakers this time.

But he is facing renewed calls to resign after previously insisting no rules were broken in Downing Street during the pandemic.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: ‘Boris Johnson’s Downing Street has now reached a century of fixed penalty notices for their partying.

‘They have racked up the dubious distinction of receiving more fines on the prime minister’s watch than any other location. Boris Johnson made the rules, and then broke them at record-breaking scale. Britain deserves better.’

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: ‘Boris Johnson stood up in parliament and said Covid rules were followed in Number 10 at all times.

‘Now 100 fines have been issued by the police over partygate. It shows the shocking scale of the law-breaking in Johnson’s Downing Street and the extent of his lies.’

Boris Johnson was fined last month for breaking his own Covid rules

Provided by Metro Boris Johnson was fined last month for breaking his own Covid rules

Three tranches of FPNS have been handed since the investigation began, with 20 announced at the end of March and more than 30 in April.

It means there are at least 50 FPNs in the latest wave.

A statement from the Met said: ‘As of Thursday 12 May, Operation Hillman, the investigation into breaches of COVID-19 regulations in Whitehall and Downing Street, has made more than 100 referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to the ACRO Criminal Records Office.’

The identities of those who receive fines are not revealed by police, as is normal practice when issuing FPNS.

However, Downing Street has made clear they would make it public if further fines are received by the prime minister, the chancellor or the cabinet secretary.

Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie and Rishi Sunak were fined last month for attending a birthday party held for the PM in the Cabinet Room in June 2020.

At the time, the prime minister said it ‘did not occur’ to him that he was breaking his own Covid rules, but that he ‘now humbly accepts’ he did.

It makes him the first sitting prime minister to be punished for breaking the law.

The PM has faced ongoing calls to resign over the saga, with some Conservative councillors blaming him for their disastrous losses at the local election’s last week.

He is alleged to have been at six of the 12 events being examined by police, meaning it is possible he could be fined again.

Pressed on whether it was his understanding that the prime minister and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case were not in the latest tranche of people fined, his official spokesperson told reporters: ‘That’s correct, yeah.’

Arriving at a regional cabinet meeting in Staffordshire on Thursday, Mr Johnson said he was ‘sure we’ll have plenty to say about that when the thing’s finished’.

Ministers dodged questions on whether they still had faith in the PM when asked about the latest development at the same event.

Home Secretary Priti Patel failed to say whether or not she still supported Mr Johnson, while Health Secretary Sajid Javid also chose not to answer when asked why the PM would not resign, despite Sir Keir Starmer’s promise to do so if he is handed a fixed penalty notice.

The Labour leader is being investigated over an event last year when he was filmed drinking beer with staff in a constituency party office in Durham.

Police revisited the case after pressure from senior Conservatives in the run-up to the local elections.

Labour has insisted the gathering was a legitimate work meeting and within what was permitted under the law at the time.

Sir Keir has accused the Tories of mudslinging and rejected that there is any equivalence to the multiple breaches of the rules in Downing Street.

He said he was confident he could prove no rules were broken – but would quit if officers conclude otherwise.

Asked in an interview broadcast on Thursday if he too should resign in the event Sir Keir steps down, Mr Johnson told LBC: ‘What matters to me and the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is not stuff that, I think, is, however fascinating is to people, I don’t think is material to the cost of living.

‘What matters to me is getting our people through the aftershocks of Covid and coming out strongly the other side, but making sure that we use … all the legislative firepower in the Queen’s Speech, all the things that we’re doing on skills, on infrastructure, on the cost of energy, on education, to make sure that we have a strong economic recovery, that we power through.’

In addition to the Scotland Yard probe and an investigation by Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, into the partygate claims, the PM is facing a third inquiry by the Privileges Committee into whether he misled Parliament with his repeated assurances that Covid rules were followed in No 10. 

Reference: Metro: Faye Brown

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