Partygate fine does not mean Johnson broke ministerial code, says Raab

Raab said the PM’s rule-breaking was ‘inadvertent in the sense that he turned up to the gathering without having realised it would be in breach’. Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/AP

Boris Johnson’s deputy has insisted the prime minister did not breach the ministerial code even though he was penalised by police for attending a No 10 party in lockdown, as the government’s ethics chief reportedly threatened to quit over the scandal.

Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, said on Wednesday that Johnson had only “unintentionally” and “inadvertently” broken the law by attending a birthday gathering in No 10 during lockdown, which led to him being given a fixed-penalty notice.