Boris Johnson has said he still does not understand why he was fined over the Partygate controversy.
As prime minister, the now-Conservative backbencher was photographed pictured drinking and enjoying several gatherings with staff at Downing Street – for which he was fined £50. The controversy eventually led to his downfall.
Having previously apologised for his actions, Mr Johnson suggested in a speech on Friday that he does not understand why he was made to pay up. He made the remarks at the Global Soft Power Summit 2023, where he was the keynote speaker.
Mr Johnson was speaking about the importance of freedom of expression and government accountability when he made the comments. “I used to make a joke about how they arrested Prince Andrew in the shrubbery of Buckingham Palace,” he said at the event chaired by Andrew Neil.
“I thought that was pretty funny until they actually fined me for having lunch at my place at the cabinet table in 10 Downing Street.
“Although I still don’t understand the rationale behind it, I do understand the key point, that the law is enforced here without fear or favour.”
He stressed the importance of “freedom under the law” to protect capitalism and democracy before taking a pop at Sir Keir Starmer, calling the Labour leader a “human bollard”.
Mr Johnson put on record that the Tories were only a “handful” of points behind Labour when he left office in the summer before the party election that saw Liz Truss taking over. His speech also saw him grandstand over vaccine delivery and Brexit.
Asked about his future plans, Mr Johnson said: “I think it very, very unlikely that I will need to do anything big in politics again.”
He did allude to the fact that he was not popular with everyone, however, starting his speech with an anecdote about how a passer-by had called him a “w*****” in a London park.
“I’ll give you an analysis of soft power,” he said. “I was going for a run the other day in the park and the trouble these days is that it gets lighter and lighter, so I become more easy to recognise.
“Some fit young geezer, who looked a bit like one of my old advisors, shot past and sang out a cheery London greeting of ‘w*****’. I’m normally impervious to this type of thing but this time I seethed and I thought, ‘you little rotter’ it’s a beautiful day, a beautiful park … and I wondered why he had to be so rude.
“But I relaxed and thought, what a wonderful country we live in and how privileged I am to be shouted at because it shows how minimal is the distance between the government and the governed.”
