Of all the spurious arguments advanced for Boris Johnson to stay in office even though he broke the law, there’s one that stands out. Not because it’s the most offensive: in fact, the stink given off by some of the other attempts to defend the prime minister’s behaviour may be even more rank. But this one looms large because its implications are wider and graver.
Start with the first of the explanations offered as to why the criminal sanction imposed by the police on Johnson this week – making him the first prime minister ever found to have broken the law in office – should not see his immediate removal from Downing Street: that the lockdown birthday party that prompted a fixed-penalty notice was brief, lasting “less than 10 minutes.” Of course, that’s a risible defence: there was no exemption in the rules for short gatherings. But it’s especially feeble in the case of Johnson because we know that the party in June 2020 was no one-off. On the contrary, even his defenders expect this week’s fine to be the first of several because Johnson was a serial rule-breaker.
