Boris Johnson is an honourable man, a Cabinet minister has insisted, as allies of the Prime Minister led a fightback against calls for him to resign over the Partygate affair.
Mr Johnson issued an apology after he was fined £50 on Tuesday for breaking Covid-19 laws by attending a gathering to mark his birthday in Number 10 in June 2020. But while he said he deeply regretted the “frustration and anger caused” he made it clear he had no intention of quitting.
Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were also among 30 people fined by the Metropolitan Police as part of their investigation into parties and gatherings in Downing Street and across Whitehall.
Cabinet ministers and allies of the Prime Minister rallied around Mr Johnson on Tuesday night following the long awaited decision by the Met.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News on Wednesday that Mr Johnson was “completely mortified” but said he “didn’t knowingly break the law”. Asked if he thought Mr Johnson was an honourable man, he replied: “I do.”
“People judge somebody in the round, how they do the job overall. I’m not saying that the Prime Minister isn’t a flawed individual. We are all flawed in different ways. We all err.
“The question is did someone set out to do these things with malice and overall is he doing a good job as Prime Minister? Which is why I do think it’s relevant how he performs the rest of his job, the rest of his task. He made a mistake. It’s embarrassing. It’s stupid, the Prime Minister is mortified about it but I think there is a big job for him to get on and do on behalf of the British people.”
Mr Johnson is the first sitting Prime Minister found to have committed a criminal offence. The Met have so far issued 50 fines over illegal parties and Mr Johnson could face further fines in the coming days and weeks.
The Met’s Operation Hillman is investigating 12 different lockdown gatherings in Downing Street and across Whitehall. Mr Johnson is believed to have attended up to six of the events including a bring your own booze party in the garden of Downing Street in May 2020.
Mr Johnson’s immediate future will depend on whether 54 Tory MPs submit letters to the 1922 backbench committee chaired by Sir Graham Brady demanding a vote of no confidence in him. The view among backbenchers may not become clear until next week when MPs return to Parliament following the Easter recess.
But some Conservative MPs who had previously called for him to resign over the affair have said it is the wrong time to move against the PM because of the war in Ukraine. Mr Johnson has been praised for his leadership and response to the Russian invasion although political opponents point out that Prime Ministers have been removed from office during wars in the past.
Much may now depend on whether Mr Johnson is found to have misled Parliament - which would normally be a resigning matter under the ministerial code. Mr Shapps said on Wednesday that Mr Johnson “didn’t knowingly break the law. He didn’t do it deliberately. He didn’t come to Parliament having knowingly done this.”
The fines received by Mr and Mrs Johnson and Mr Sunak were in relation to the June 2020 birthday gathering at which, according to Northern Ireland minister and Johnson ally Conor Burns, the Prime Minister was “ambushed with a cake”.
Reports have suggested that up to 30 people attended the do and sang happy birthday in the Cabinet Room with the Prime Minister claiming he attended for less than 10 minutes.
The progression of the police investigation will again raise the spectre of the Sue Gray report, a dossier on the gatherings compiled by senior civil servant which was stymied by the launch of the probe by the Met.
The fine for the Chancellor was the latest blow after a difficult few weeks for the previous favourite to succeed Mr Johnson. Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty have come under intense scrutiny over their tax affairs while Labour have accused him of being out of touch and failing to do enough to tackle the growing cost of living crisis.
Mr Sunak was reported to be on the brink of quitting as Chancellor, according to The Times. The Chancellor took seven hours to put out a short statement apologising and which made clear he would be staying in the role.
