Evening summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day:
- The government’s former ethics chief has apologised for her “error of judgment” after she was fined by police for attending a party in the Cabinet Office during lockdown. Helen MacNamara, who now works for the Premier League, issued a statement after a leak naming her as one of the 20 people issued with fines after a Met investigation.
- Downing Street has declined to say whether Boris Johnson believes coronavirus laws were broken at No 10 after fines were issued. The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The prime minister wants to comment at the conclusion of the process and not at the middle of it.”
- Keir Starmer called for the names of all senior officials fined for Downing Street parties to be made public. The Labour leader said the government was “taking the public for fools yet again”. He said the prime minister had “misled the public” and presided over “widespread criminality”, adding that Boris Johnson is “unfit for office”.
- Now is not the time for a “self-indulgent leadership contest” if Boris Johnson is fined over the Partygate scandal, a minister has said. Asked if the prime minister should resign if he’s fined, the Wales secretary, Simon Hart, told Sky News he thinks “the world has moved on a considerable distance”.
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Officials being fined for lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street is “not the most important issue in the world” given atrocities in Ukraine, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said, while also arguing that Boris Johnson did not mislead people over the events. The Brexit opportunities minister defended his dismissal of the Partygate row as “fluff” in the context of the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis and also told LBC radio that some coronavirus restrictions imposed during lockdown were “inhuman”.
- The prime minister’s official spokesman has defended axing universal free coronavirus tests as new symptoms for Covid-19 were designated, saying lateral flow spending was “simply unsustainable”. He said: “... the provision of free tests was costing taxpayers £2bn a month and that is simply unsustainable.”
- Parliament does appear to have a problem with drug-taking, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said. The Conservatives have removed the whip from David Warburton, the MP for Somerton and Frome, who is understood to be facing allegations of sexual harassment, cocaine use and failing to declare a loan. Phillipson said: “I personally have never witnessed that, but it would appear that there is a problem that it is taking place.”
That’s it from me today. Thanks for joining me.
For the latest news on Ukraine, follow our dedicated live blog:
Read the full story on Helen MacNamara’s fine from my colleagues Rowena Mason and Paul MacInnes here:
The government’s former ethics chief has apologised for her “error of judgment” after she was fined by police for attending a party in the Cabinet Office during lockdown.
Helen MacNamara, who now works for the Premier League, issued a statement after a leak naming her as one of the 20 people issued with fines after a Met investigation.
She said: “I am sorry for the error of judgment I have shown. I have accepted and paid the fixed-penalty notice.”
MacNamara was fined in connection with a leaving party held on 18 June 2020 to mark the departure of a private secretary, Hannah Young, who was moving to New York to take up a role with the British consulate general. She is said to have provided a karaoke machine for the event, which is understood to have been one of the most raucous under investigation.
Boris Johnson was not present at the event but the former cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill and the former No 10 aide Dominic Cummings are reported to have been in attendance.
Cummings has written a blog defending Young and saying: “It is deeply, deeply contemptible that not just the PM but senior civil servants have allowed such people to have their reputations attacked in order to protect the sociopathic narcissist squatting in the No 10 flat.”
MacNamara left government in February 2021 and joined the Premier League the following May, where she holds the position of chief policy and corporate affairs officer.
Hired due to the depth of her experience and her contacts within 10 Downing Street, MacNamara has led the league’s response to the government’s fan-led review of football governance, which last autumn called for the introduction of an independent regulator for the game.
