British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have rejected calls to resign, despite being fined by police for breaking lockdown rules in Downing Street in June 2020.
The prime minister, the chancellor and the PM's wife all received fixed penalty notices for attending a birthday gathering for the PM in No 10, Downing Street.
As a result, Mr Johnson became the UK's first serving prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law. All three apologised, but opposition MPs say the PM and Mr Sunak must quit.
Mr Johnson said he felt "an even greater sense of obligation to deliver", while the chancellor said he was "focused on delivering for the British people".
Johnson and Sunak are thought to be the first sitting prime minister and chancellor to be criminally sanctioned. Both senior politicians were also accused of misleading parliament by previously denying they had attended parties during lockdown.
However, Sunak made no immediate statement in public, leading some Tory MPs to speculate he could resign following a disastrous week in which his wife’s tax affairs have come under scrutiny. Such a move would put huge pressure on Johnson to follow suit.
Johnson issued a “full apology” and rejected calls to quit, but his position remains in peril in the weeks to come as the police are still investigating up to six further gatherings where he is said to have been present.
Johnson and his Conservative government have faced growing outrage since allegations surfaced late last year that he and his staff flouted Britain’s pandemic restrictions and held office parties in 2020 and 2021 when millions in the country were barred from meeting with friends and family — or even attending funerals for their loved ones.
“I have paid the fine and want to offer a full apology,” Johnson said. “I understand the anger many will feel that I myself fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public. I accept in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better.”
Downing Street said Johnson was being sanctioned for attending a “gathering of two or more people indoors in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street” on June 19, 2020. The event was a surprise birthday party for the prime minister.
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, called on both the “guilty men”, Johnson and Sunak, to resign for “dishonouring their offices”. He said Johnson had “lied repeatedly to the public” and his behaviour was a “slap in the face” to all those who had followed the rules. “They have to go,” he said.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister and SNP leader, also called for the prime minister to quit. “Boris Johnson must resign,” she said. “He broke the law and repeatedly lied to parliament about it. The basic values of integrity and decency – essential to the proper working of any parliamentary democracy – demand that he go. And he should take his out of touch chancellor with him.”
The fines come as part of an investigation by the Metropolitan Police into illegal parties held in Downing Street and across Whitehall during Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. The force is looking into 12 parties overall, and has already issued more than 50 fines, with more expected to come.
