Boris Johnson may be desperate to move on from his embarrassing Partygate fine, but grieving Covid families and even some of his own MPs are standing firmly in his way.
As he becomes the first PM to address Parliament as a law-breaker, jittery Tories fear the scandal and the fact their boss is facing further fixed penalty notices could cost them dearly at May’s local elections.
Mr Johnson also faces a vote as early as tomorrow on whether he will be referred to the Commons privileges committee to investigate if he had misled MPs over Partygate. If guilty, he could be suspended from Parliament.
One veteran Tory claimed unease about the PM’s position was “almost universal” among colleagues, apart from a handful of loyalists.
No10 aides said Mr Johnson is expected to “wholeheartedly apologise” to MPs for the birthday party breach on 19 June 2020 at today’s showdown.
But the shameless PM will use the Commons session to insist he did not break Covid laws, despite paying the fine and having said sorry for his breach.
Those who lost loved ones in the pandemic responded with fury at his bid to shift focus away from his breaking of the rules he expected us all to follow.
One said: “If Boris Johnson wants people to move on from Partygate, he needs to move on from his office.”
Lobby Akinnola, of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, added: “It’s no surprise the PM wants people to move on from Partygate.
“It’s demonstrated why he is not fit to serve… law-breaking, self-centredness, dishonesty and a callous disregard for the people he is supposed to be leading. Tragically, we can’t all move on as easily. Just like the other 180,000 bereaved families, mine do not have the privilege of just forgetting my dad’s death, nor of picking which laws we abided by.
“Moving on is all the harder when the country is still being run by a man who prioritised ‘cheese and wine night’ and a ‘Christmas quiz’ over obeying laws there to protect us all that he put in place.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “Boris Johnson’s circus of criminality should be approaching its last act. He has not only deliberately misled the British people at every turn, but degraded his office and shamed our country.
“This Prime Minister’s compulsive lies to Parliament are a disturbing pattern of behaviour that cannot be allowed to continue a day longer.”
Mr Johnson will try to shift focus onto the Ukraine war, his Rwandan asylum seeker policy and the cost of living crisis at home. But he may have an uphill struggle to win over the public after a damning poll by JLPartners, which asked the public to give their view of him in a few words.
Some 72% of respondents returned negative responses, with the most commonly word used being “liar”.
Worried Tory MPs fear the “drip, drip” of Partygate fines could deal them a severe blow at the polls. And they warn a by-election in the red wall seat of Wakefield, taken from Labour in 2019, was a moment of high danger for the PM. A former minister said: “In the end I suspect the trigger will be when we lose Wakefield.
“It looks very unlikely he’ll be able to move on. It’s more of a case of when MPs act, not if.”
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who has urged Mr Johnson to call a confidence vote in himself, said: “However you look at this, it is uncomfortable for all Conservative MPs. We recognise how far the party has come with Boris as leader, but also the obvious dangers that are now on the horizon if he’s retained.
“This is the very difficult dilemma that’s now troubling us all. We can’t just be allowed to drift and hope it goes away. That approach just takes us to the general election which we all know we could potentially lose.”
Former Tory Cabinet minister David Gauke said of the PM’s insistence he broke no laws: “Then why did he pay the fine?
“He was entitled to refuse to do so and, if charged, could have set out his defence in court. Paying the fine whilst denying the offence is just more cake-ism.” But another Tory critic of the PM added: “Although the public certainly hasn’t forgotten, he will just try to bluster it out.”
Mr Johnson plans to meet his MPs tonight for a “clear the air” discussion to try to shore up support.
A close ally said that while the PM accepted “mistakes were made” he would claim there was an “exemption” for work – even though this did not cover socialising.
After he was fined, Mr Johnson vowed to “set the record straight in any way that I can” when Parliament returned. He had repeatedly told MPs no rules had been broken.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been spoken to by police after being filmed with no face mask while out campaigning – days before Covid laws were dropped there. But no further action will be taken.
