On 1st December 2021 for example, Johnson told the Commons that ‘all guidance was followed completely’ when asked about alleged parties.
The prime minister has been slammed as a ‘proven liar’ after the Met issued an initial 20 fines for lockdown breaches to officials who attended parties in Downing Street and Whitehall, with renewed calls for him to quit.
While the prime minister and senior Tories insisted for weeks that ‘no rules were broken’ and that ‘guidelines were followed’, the Met’s decision to issue fines exposes once more how the prime minister lied and knowingly misled both Parliament and the rest of the country.
On 1st December 2021 for example, Johnson told the Commons that ‘all guidance was followed completely’ when asked about alleged parties.
The Met issued a statement earlier today, where it said: “The investigation into allegations of breaches of COVID-19 regulations in Whitehall and Downing Street has now progressed to the point where the first referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPN) will be made to ACRO Criminal Records Office.
“We will today initially begin to refer 20 fixed penalty notices to be issued for breaches of Covid-19 regulations. The ACRO Criminal Records Office will then be responsible for issuing the FPNs to the individual following the referrals from the MPS.
“We are making every effort to progress this investigation at speed and have completed a number of assessments. However due to the significant amount of investigative material that remains to be assessed, further referrals may be made to ACRO if the evidential threshold is made.”
News of the fines was met with Johnson being slammed as a proven liar. Wes Streeting MP tweeted: “Fines issued by the Police for parties in Downing Street that broke the lockdown rules.
“According to Boris Johnson these were the parties that never happened. He’s a proven liar and lied repeatedly to the House of Commons and the country.”
Adam Bienkov, political editor at Byline Times, tweeted: “It is now beyond all doubt that Boris Johnson repeatedly lied, both inside and outside Parliament, about the fact that illegal parties were held inside his own house during lockdown.”
Deputy leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner called for Johnson to quit. She said: “Downing Street has been found guilty of breaking the law. The culture is set from the very top. The buck stops with the Prime Minister, who spent months lying to the British public, which is why he’s got to go.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey also called for the prime minister to resign. He said: “If Boris Johnson thinks he can get away with partygate by paying expensive lawyers and throwing junior staff to the wolves, he is wrong. We all know who is responsible. The PM must resign”.
The SNP meanwhile said Johnson should have quit a long time ago. Deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald MP said: “Boris Johnson should have resigned a long time ago over the boozy rule-breaking parties, but his ego and lack of dignity led him to desperately cling on.
“The reality is that the longer he stays in office the more lasting the damage will be.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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