A minister has defended Boris Johnson over the Partygate affair, comparing the fixed penalty notice he received for breaking Covid-19 laws to Tony Blair receiving a parking fine.
Mr Johnson is due to face MPs later on Tuesday for the first time since he was fined last week over his attendance at a gathering in Downing Street to celebrate his birthday in June 2020.
He is expected to again apologise to the House of Commons for breaking Covid regulations but will attempt to place the breach in a broader context by highlighting his role in the international response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the plan to tackle illegal immigration by sending unlawful refugees to the African country of Rwanda.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said Mr Johnson had already apologised over the Partygate affair and played down claims by opposition parties that the Prime Minister had misled Parliament when he previously claimed no rules had been broken.
Mr Lewis went on to suggest that the fine received by the Prime Minister was similar to ministers who have previously received parking fines.
He told Sky News: “I think we do see consistently, whether it is through parking fines or speeding fines, ministers of both parties over the years have been in that position.
“We’ve had prime ministers in the past who have received penalty notices, from what I can see, and also front bench ministers.
“I saw there was a parking notice that Tony Blair had once. We’ve seen front bench Labour ministers and, let’s be frank, government ministers as well.”
He added: “You’ve asked me, can someone who sets the laws and the rules, can they also be someone who breaks the rules. That clearly has happened with a number of ministers over the years.”
Opposition parties are pushing for Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to grant a debate and vote on whether he misled Parliament. Labour is also reported to be weighing whether to push for a vote to refer Mr Johnson’s conduct to the Commons Privileges Committee for a formal investigation.
While any vote to censure Mr Johnson would be largely symbolic, Labour and the Lib Dems believe the move will ‘flush out’ Conservative MPs who may have previously been considering calling for a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
Some Conservative MPs who had called for Mr Johnson to resign have since backtracked saying it would be the wrong time to remove their leader while the war is raging in Ukraine and millions of people are worried about the cost of living crisis.
Mr Lewis insisted Mr Johnson had not knowingly misled Parliament when he had previously stated that rules had always been followed in Downing Street.
He said: “As he said last week in his statement, and the Prime Minister will be talking to Parliament later today to make a statement, but at every point he has been clear with what he believes to be the truth.
“What he also accepts is that the police have looked into this particular issue and taken a view that a fine should be issued - he accepts that, he has paid that fine, he has apologised for that.”
Asked whether Mr Johnson accepts that he broke the rules, Mr Lewis replied: “In the sense that he has paid a fine that the police have decided to issue because the rules were broken.
“But that doesn’t mean that anything he said to Parliament was inaccurate at the time. What he said to Parliament he believed to be true at the time.”
