A Cabinet minister has argued that Boris Johnson did not mislead the House of Commons over partygate allegations, having initially insisted that coronavirus guidance was followed in Downing Street.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis also denied that the Prime Minister was a liar.
It comes as Johnson will "set the record straight" over what happened in Number 10 during the covid lockdown in 2020.
He was the first Prime Minister to be fined while in office for breaking the law after he attended his birthday party in the Cabinet room on June 19, 2020 when the country was in lockdown.
Lewis told Sky News: "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 Johnson accepts he broke the rules, 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."
Lewis also suggested Johnson being fined as part of the investigation into alleged lockdown parties in Downing Street was akin to ministers have previously received parking fines.
He said: "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.
"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."
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