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British PM Johnson, finance minister fined for breaking COVID lockdown rules

Tuesday, 12 April 2022 4:21 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 April 2022 4:23 PM ]

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak walk out of 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain, December 1, 2021. (Photo by Reuters)

The British government says Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Finance Minister Rishi Sunak will be fined by police for attending parties in Downing Street during COVID-19 lockdowns.

A government statement confirmed on Tuesday that the two had received notification of the fines from the British police.

Some media reports said that the PM's wife, Carrie Johnson, would also be given a fixed penalty notice.

The London Metropolitan Police (Met) earlier said in a statement that more than 50 fixed penalty notices had been issued as of Tuesday. "The investigation into allegations of breaches of Covid-19 regulations in Whitehall and Downing Street continues to progress."

Downing Street has been refusing to say that the issuing of the fines represents proof of criminality. Two cabinet ministers, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, have conceded that the penalties meant laws were broken.

In response to the developments, leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said, "These fines expose the shocking scale of the criminality in Boris Johnson's Number 10."

"The police have now completely shredded Johnson's claims that no laws were broken. He cannot be trusted and cannot continue as prime minister. "No other leader in any other organization would be allowed to continue after law-breaking on this scale. If Boris Johnson won't resign, Conservative MPs must show him the door," he said.

Partygate scandal continues for UK PM

There has been criticism of the way the Partygate scandal continues to be addressed by the government and why the identities of those issued with fines still not made public.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the PM and Sunak must resign.

And the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group said there was "simply no way either the prime minister or chancellor can continue."

But Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, who at one stage had called for the PM's resignation over the parties, said "it wouldn't be right" for Johnson to go while there was war in Ukraine.

British police to issue 20 initial fines over Downing Street lockdown parties

British police are set to issue 20 initial fines to government officials close to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who stands accused of breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules in gatherings at the Downing Street over the past two years.

Johnson had previously insisted that "guidelines were followed at all times." The prime minister had later apologized for attending one of the parties in the Downing Street garden in May 2020, but insisted that he believed it had been a work event.

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