Covid laws were broken by people at the heart of Government, a Cabinet minister has admitted, after the Metropolitan Police issued 20 ‘Partygate’ fines.
Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Sky News on Wednesday morning: “Inevitably the Fixed Penalty Notice is for those that have breached the regulations. We stand by and support the fact there should be the Met process, the Sue Gray process and accountability for this.”
Mr Raab’s acknowledgment comes just 24 hours after the Prime Minister’s spokesman refused to admit that the Met’s decision to ask the Criminal Records office, Acro, to issue the notices represented a breach of the law.
“It’s for the Met to make that judgment rather than the Prime Minister,” Boris Johnson’s spokesman said on Tuesday. “You will hear more from the prime minister once the report has concluded.”
The Metropolitan Police announced on Tuesday it had sent a batch of 20 fines to Acro so they can be forwarded to the alleged offenders.
Senior officers have made it clear that more fines could follow because there was still a “significant amount” of evidence to be analysed about potential law breaking at the string of parties in No10 and other government venues.
Detectives have refused to name any of those receiving fines, saying that the secrecy was in line with national policy protecting the identities of offenders given fixed penalty notices and similar penalties such as cautions or speeding fines.
The action follows police investigations into 12 parties, including up to six attended by Mr Johnson, held in Downing Street and Whitehall on dates including June 18 and 19, 2020, December 17 and 18, 2020 and April 16 last year when Covid regulations reportedly banning such gatherings were in place. They include a birthday party held for Mr Johnson and a bring-your-own-booze gathering in the garden of No10.
Mr Johnson’s spokesman said on Tuesday afternoon that the Prime Minister had not been fined for breaching Covid regulations.
But the Met’s decision to issue the fines has led to renewed scrutiny of Mr Johnson and whether he previously misled Parliament when he told MPs that Covid rules were followed.
Mr Raab said the Prime Minister did not intentionally mislead Parliament when he assured MPs no rules had been broken over lockdown parties in Downing Street.
“I don’t think there was an intention to mislead,” he said. “The Prime Minister in good faith updated Parliament on what he knows.
“Of course, precisely because there were questions around this, the Sue Gray inquiry was set up and precisely because it was right and proper to enable the Met to conduct the investigation that has taken place.
“Of course we accept that those things wouldn’t have happened if there weren’t legitimate questions that have been made.”
Mr Raab also appeared to suggest that some of those who will receive fines for breaking Covid rules had already left Downing Street in Mr Johnson’s overhaul of staff at Downing Street.
“[The Prime Minister] has overhauled the Number 10 operation and many people have been asking ‘what happens to those who get a fixed penalty notice’? Well many people have already left Number 10.”
He added: “I think there were clearly things that went wrong, that’s why the Prime Minister overhauled the operation at Number 10,” he said.
“It is well known that the individuals that have come in and some of them that have left and that is because he takes it so seriously.”
