A Tory minister has resigned over Partygate with a stinging rebuke to Boris Johnson over "repeated rule breaking and breaches of the criminal law in Downing Street".
Lord Wolfson announced he was stepping down as Justice Minister in the Lords in protest at the Government's response to the Partygate scandal.
The Conservative peer said it was a matter of the Prime Minister's "own conduct" as well as the "scale" of the lockdown breaches which took place in Downing Street and Whitehall.
His decision to quit will ramp up pressure on other senior Tories, who have been trying to downplay the Metropolitan Police's decision to fine Mr Johnson over a lockdown birthday party in 2020.
Scotland Yard issued another 30 fines for Partygate law breaches on Tuesday, which included penalties for the Prime Minister, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
But the shameless Tories have refused to resign, despite being forced to apologise and pay £50 fixed penalty notices for breaking the law.
In a letter to the PM, Lord Wolfson said: "I regret that recent disclosures lead to the inevitable conclusion that there was repeated rule breaking, and breaches of the criminal law, in Downing Street.
"I have — again, with considerable regret — come to the conclusion that the scale, context and nature of those breaches mean that it would be inconsistent with the rule of law for that conduct to pass with constitutional impunity, especially when many in society complied with the rules at great personal cost, and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes apparently more trivial, offences.
"It is not just a question of what happened in Downing Street, or your own conduct. It is also, and perhaps more so, the official response to what took place.
"As we obviously do not share that view of these matters, I must ask you to accept my resignation."
The senior barrister told the Prime Minister that failure to uphold the rule of law would undermine efforts to reform the justice system.
And he warned: "We can only undertake these and other legal reforms at home — and also credibly defend democratic norms abroad, especially at a time of war in Europe — if we are, and are seen to be, resolutely committed both to the observance of the law and also to the rule of law.
Covid breaches by both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have put top Tories in a tricky spot, particularly minister with responsibility for law and order.
Home Secretary Priti Patel - the face of law and order in Government - has been ominously silent on the issue.
But a source said she was fully behind the PM. The source said she was limited in what she could say while the police investigation was ongoing.
Labour's Steve Reed turned up the pressure on Justice Secretary Dominic Raab.
He tweeted: "Congratulations to Justice Minister Lord Wolfson for taking a principled stand. But what does this mean for Lord Chancellor Dominic Raab, who’s constitutionally charged with upholding the law but is instead condoning law-breaking."
Police have handed out 50 fines as part of their probe into 12 lockdown-busting events, six of which the PM is believed to have attended.
Mr Johnson was rapped over a surprise lockdown birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room on June 19 2020 - also attended by Mr Sunak and his wife Carrie.
Separately, police have issued penalties to guests at two boozy leaving dos in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral last April.
The Government's former ethics chief Helen MacNamara apologised when she was handed a fine over a karaoke leaving do in June 2020.
Penalties were also doled out over a boozy bash to send off Kate Josephs, a senior official who help to write the Covid rules, in December 2020.
Mr Johnson was not understood to have been at any of these events.
