Jacob Rees-Mogg has told Andrew Marr the public “needs a sense of perspective” over the Partygate fines shortly after the broadcaster recounted burying his father during a Covid lockdown.
During the exchange on LBC, Marr said he had buried his father in the same week one of the lockdown-breaking parties was held. He said due to restrictions most of his family was unable to attend.
“I buried my father on the week that one of those parties took place, and it was a party. He was an elder of the Church of Scotland - that church was locked and barred,” he said.
“We had a small gathering, most of the family weren’t there. The other parishioners he would have loved to be there weren’t allowed to be there because we followed the rules.
“And I felt intensely angry about that - and I do not regard this as fluff.”
In response, Mr Rees-Mogg said closing churches had been a great mistake and said the war in Ukraine matters for the “security of the western world”.
He added: “Considering what is happening now two years on against what’s going on in Ukraine, what is going on with the cost of living crisis, one has to get a sense of perspective.
“What is going on in Ukraine is fundamental to the security of the Western world. And you are comparing this to a fine issued for something that happened two years ago.
“I still think that in comparison with the war in Ukraine a fine for something that happened two years ago is not the most pressing political matter.”
After the broadcaster pressed the minister on labelling the Partygate fines as “fluff”, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “No I don’t, I think it is getting a sense of proportion.
“The Daily Mail headline said ‘don’t forget there’s a war on’ and this is something we have to remember – we need a sense of perspective.”
He said in the Commons, that he did not think he was breaking the law when he attended a birthday party in Downing Street held during lockdown.
He told MPs: "It did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the Cabinet Room just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy could amount to a breach of the rules.
"I repeat that was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly. I respect the outcome of the police investigation, which is still under way, and I can only say that I will respect their decision-making and always take the appropriate steps."
A vote will be held on Thursday on whether a Commons committee should investigate whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament.
