Fines for covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street are “not the most important issue in the world” given atrocities in Ukraine, Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed.
The Tory cabinet minister who previously described revelations about the parties as “fluff” argued that that Boris Johnson did not mislead people over the events.
Taking part in a phone-in show on LBC radio, Rees-Mogg declined a caller’s request to apologise for calling the party claims “fluff” now that the Metropolitan Police had issued fines to some people who attended the lockdown gatherings.
He said: “We have a war going on in Ukraine, we have atrocities being carried out, we have pictures coming through that show the enormous brutality of Putin’s army.
“And what I was saying was, in the context of what is going on, not just with Ukraine but with the cost of living crisis, this is not the most important issue in the world. Having said that, people should obviously obey the law.”
The Brexit Opportunities Minister said a more fundamental issue was whether the Covid rules in place at the time were too rigid.
The cabinet minister brazenly insisted that even though fines had been issued the PM had not misled parliament when he said no rules were broken.
Rees-Mogg said: “The fact that the prime minister was given wrong information doesn’t mean he misled people.
"The Prime Minister said that he was told that the rules were followed, but that turns out not to be correct. We know that fines have now been issued. But the Prime Minister can only work on the information he’s given."
He added: “If the Prime Minister is told information that is incorrect, and passes that information on, he has made no deliberate effort to mislead anybody.”
Those fined reportedly include the government’s former ethics chief Helen MacNamara who was fined £50 for attending a leaving event in the Cabinet Office in June 2020.
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