MPs groaned in protest today as brazen Boris Johnson apologised for his Partygate fine - but AGAIN claimed he didn't know his own Covid rules.
The Prime Minister gave an "unreserved" apology - before immediately denying he had deliberately misled MPs when he said "all guidance was followed completely" in No10.
He told Parliament: "Let me also say not by way of mitigation or excuse - but purely because it explains my previous words in this House - that it did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the Cabinet room just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy could amount to a breach of the rules."
MPs also groaned as he bizarrely claimed being fined for a criminal offence would make him a more fervent enemy of warmonger Vladimir Putin.
The PM said that due to public anger, “I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people - and to respond in the best traditions of our country to Putin’s barbaric onslaught against Ukraine.”
But Tory former chief whip Mark Harper became the latest to demand he quit with a devastating attack to the PM's face.
Mr Harper said: “I regret to say that we have a Prime Minister who broke the laws that he told the country they had to follow, hasn’t been straightforward about it.
"And [he] is now going to ask the decent men and women on these benches to defend what I think is indefensible.
"’I'm very sorry to have to say this, but I no longer think he is worthy of the great office that he holds.”
Safiah Ngah, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said: “Today’s apology from the Prime Minister was the words of someone who is sorry they’ve been caught, not someone who regrets the harm they’ve done.
“His claim that he didn’t realise rules were being broken is just laughable, and shows he still takes us for idiots.”
One MP shouted "criminal" after Keir Starmer said "he knows he’s dishonest and incapable of changing" - but was told not to use the word dishonest by the Commons Speaker.
Labour's leader said while a "mealy-mouthed apology" came from one side of the PM's mouth, “a new set of deflections and distortions pour from the other” - adding: "He is a man without shame".
Sir Keir said: "The damage is already done. The public have made up their minds. They don’t believe a word the Prime Minister says. They know what he is.
"As ever with this Prime Minister, those close to him find themselves ruined. And the institutions he vows to protect damaged.
"Good ministers forced to walk away from public service. The Chancellor's career up in flames. And the leader of the Scottish conservatives rendered pathetic.
"For all those unfamiliar with this prime minister’s career this isn’t some fixable glitch in the system.
"It’s the whole point, it’s what he does. It’s who he is. He knows he’s dishonest and incapable of changing. So he drags everybody else down with him."
Labour's leader went on: "A minister on the radio this morning saying, it’s the same as a speeding ticket. No it's not!
"No one has ever broken down in tears because they couldn't drive faster than 20mph outside a school. Don't insult the public with this nonsense."
Referencing the case of Lib Dem Chris Huhne he added: "As it happens, the last minister who got a speeding ticket and ended up in prison - I know because I prosecuted him!"
Mr Johnson was facing MPs for the first time since he received a £50 fixed penalty notice for breaking his own Covid laws in June 2020 - making him the first ever law-breaking Prime Minister.
He attended a surprise birthday party in the Cabinet room for nine minutes and was photographed holding a can of Estrella beer.
Allies furiously tried to downplay the scale of the lawbreaking - comparing it to a speeding ticket and saying it was not "like a rave in Ibiza".
The Prime Minister will face a major vote by MPs this Thursday - while he is in India trying to move on from the scandal - on whether to formally investigate him for 'misleading Parliament'.
The Commons will decide whether to commence a probe by the Privileges Commitee over claims he deliberately misled MPs by saying “all guidance was followed completely” in No10.
If approved the committee could investigate and find Boris Johnson in contempt of parliament - like War Secretary John Profumo after he lied about an affair in 1963.
If found guilty he could even be suspended from the Commons.
But the PM still has an 80-odd seat majority - suggesting the vote will not pass and no investigation will take place.
Instead Labour will use the issue to pressure Tory MPs who told their constituents to follow Covid laws, but now refuse to condemn the PM's fine for breaking them.
Despite denying misleading Parliament, Mr Johnson said "I respect the outcome of the police investigation" and “I will respect their decision making” in future - hinting at further fines.
He said when he apologised last week, "I acknowledged the hurt and the anger and I said that people had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister."
"I made a serious mistake and I apologise very sincerely", the PM added.
But Opposition MPs laughed as he began his statement with the words “let me begin in all humility” - after his allies spent days trying to downplay the impact of the fine.
Labour MP Angela Eagle pointed out the PM was trying to claim a party was a business event - the exact claim ex-spokeswoman Allegra Stratton made on leaked video that got her sacked.
She said witheringly: “He’s now using her joke as his defence”.
In a brutal letter to the 1922 Committee, Mr Harper condemned a "toxic culture" in No10 and said: "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the PM has misled Parliament."
Tory MP David Simmonds - who represents a seat next door to the PM’s - did not call for him to quit but asked how he would “restore the moral authority of this government”.
But other Tory MPs spoke out in Mr Johnson's favour - with Steve Baker saying he had repented and should be forgiven, while Sir Edward Leigh said the only leader who should be removed was Vladimir Putin.
And Tory MP David Morris faced shouts of opposition as he gave a gushing tribute to his "trust" in the party leader, adding: “This Prime Minister is leading the world against Putin”.
Mr Johnson told the Commons on December 1 that "all guidance was followed completely" in No10 - before it emerged he had attended at least six lockdown gatherings himself.
On December 8, he said he was "sickened myself and furious" when it emerged staff had joked about a Christmas do - again before it emerged the PM was present at several gatherings himself.
On January 12, he said of a 'BYOB' garden party in May 2020: "I believed implicitly that this was a work event". But ex-aide Dominic Cummings later claimed the PM was told in advance and "waved aside" objections.
The PM failed to mention his Partygate fine at Cabinet today in the first meeting of his top team since he was hit with a penalty for breaking his own lockdown laws.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman also refused to say explicitly that Mr Johnson had broken the law - despite the PM paying a £50 fine for breaking the law.
Cabinet minister Brandon Lewis compared the Partygate fine to getting a speeding ticket then tried to U-turn in an excruciating radio interview.
Tonight the Prime Minister will address a rare meeting of the full Conservative parliamentary party in a bid to ‘clear the air’.
While only just over a dozen MPs are calling on him to resign, that number could surge if his response to the fine goes down badly. It takes 54 letters of no confidence to the backbench 1922 Committee to prompt a vote of no-confidence in the leader.
