A senior Tory minister "feel the same anger" as the public over partygate but is standing by Boris Johnson after he was fined for breaching covid lockdown regulations.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was sent out by the government to defend the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rishi Sunak after they received fixed penalty notices from the Metropolitan Police for attending a party on Number 10 in June 2020.
Johnson and Sunak politicians said they now accepted the rules had been broken, neither appeared to be considering their positions, as they said they wanted to get on with the job.
Cabinet ministers tweeted in support of Johnson, praising his leadership during Covid and Brexit and also pointing to the war in Ukraine.
Shapps said it was "deeply disappointing", but also stood by the Prime Minister.
He told BBC Breakfast: "I'm not here to say anything other than this is deeply disappointing.
"It was wrong. Like your viewers I have my own experience and for four months I couldn't see my own dad, we thought we lost him when he was in hospital.
"I feel the same anger when I heard about all this as everybody else watching your programme did.
"I also know that the Prime Minister who, by nature of being Prime Minister, leads a very busy life, had chaired eight different meetings on that day, going out to visit a school and as a surprise some of the staff that he was working with arranged a party.
"It was wrong. He's apologised and has accepted responsibility. He's paid the £50 fine, and he's of course completely overhauled Number 10.
"I don't seek to justify it, but I also know that it wasn't done with malice or intent.
"It should not have happened."
'He is embarrassed'
When asked on Sky News how the Prime Minister can "possibly remain in office", Shapps said: "Everyone is human, people sometimes make mistakes. He wasn't there for the 50 events that you are referring to, of course, and many times he was wasn't even in the building."
Shapps noted the Prime Minister is "human" and that "sometimes they (humans) make mistakes", adding: "And that's what happened. It has been a very high-profile job and quite rightly, the police are investigating, they independently come to their their view. He has apologised, he has accepted responsibility. He has paid a 50-quid fine.
"The question I suppose, your question goes to the heart of, you know, did he set out to do this? Was it something that was done with malice, with intent?
"And the answer of course, is no. It's something that happened in error, and as I have said, I've spoken to him, he is incredibly embarrassed by the whole thing.
"He knows that it was stupid, indefensible. But he didn't set out to break the law, and he has paid the fixed penalty notice fine, and has a very big job to do."
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