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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Rachael Burford

‘Just be honest’: Boris Johnson warned not to cover Partygate fine recipients

Boris Johnson has been warned against covering up for those who receives fines in the Downing Street partygate scandal.

Tory MP Steve Brine said the Government should “just be honest” and not refuse to name those handed fixed penalty notices by police.

Helen MacNamara was on Sunday reported to be among the first people to be fined for attending a lockdown karaoke party.

Ms MacNamara, who was in charge of Whitehall ethics, was allegedly part of a "raucous" leaving party for a former Number 10 aide on June 18, 2020 when indoor gatherings were banned.

Other Downing Street staff who attended a party the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral are among those to have been handed fines, according to The Telegraph.

Two events are said to have taken place on April 16 2021 when the country was under restrictions which banned indoor mixing.

The parties were reportedly leaving dos for James Slack, Mr Johnson’s then-director of communications, and a photographer for the Prime Minister.

Speaking to Westminster Hour’s Carolyn Quinn, former Treasury whip Mr Brine said: “They should just be honest about who’s been tipped off with what and put it all out there and say, you know what, we got this wrong, or this person’s got this fine, because these guys in the press, they won’t focus on the issues of the local election, they’ll scratch around and try and dig all this stuff up again.

"You know, just be honest, and put it all out there, that would be my advice."

Downing Street has said it will reveal if Mr Johnson is fined for breaking lockdown laws. He is believed to have attended at least three of the events being investigated and his wife, Carrie Johnson, is also reported to have been at some of them.

Asked if he wanted to see the names of those fined in public, even if it included the Prime Minister’s wife, Winchester MP Mr Brine said: “If you try and cover it over it will just continue as a story.”

He added: “I would have thought that the best thing is just transparency, open the curtains.”

Met detectives began investigating 12 events held across government in January following an internal inquiry by senior civil servant Sue Gray.

On Monday. Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said it does not sit comfortably with him that parties were being held in Downing Street and Whitehall while Covid restrictions were in place.

But asked whether the Prime Minister should resign if he receives a fine, Mr Hart told Sky News: "I have 65,000 constituents in west Wales, where I represent, and they are not shy in coming forward and expressing a view about this and a number of other subjects.

"And throughout all of this saga of the Downing Street parties they have said one thing very clearly. In a vast majority they say they want contrition and they want an apology, but they don't want a resignation."

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