By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson’s fine for breaking Covid laws is no different to ministers receiving parking tickets, Brandon Lewis has suggested. The Northern Ireland secretary made the comparison as the prime minister prepares to apologise to MPs for being handed a fixed penalty notice by police last week.
The implication of his statement has been taken to mean that the fine was too small and has no real impact on the prime minister.
Johnson is trying to move away from the ongoing row with partygate and focus urge the country to focus on the government’s attempts to deal with the war in Ukraine
Last week, Lord Wolfson offered his resignation from the government, stating that it would be wrong for “that conduct to pass with constitutional impunity, especially when many in society complied with the rules at great personal cost, and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes apparently more trivial, offences.”
He expressed regret that recent disclosures lead to the inevitable conclusion that there was repeated rule-breaking, and breaches of the criminal law, in Downing Street.
Despite the resignation, other Mps have supported the prime minister and asked for the country to move on and focus on more important things.
However, Lewis’s comments that the prime minister’s fine was no different to a parking fine has led to the view that the Northern Ireland minister is presenting the breach as a minor issue which should be inconsequential to not just Boris Johnson, but to all those who broke lockdown rules.
Defending the prime minister on Sky News this morning, Lewis said the situation he found himself in was no different to other ministers – including Tony Blair – who had broken traffic laws.
He said: “I think we do see consistently, whether it is through parking fines or speeding fines, ministers of both parties over the years have been in that position.
“We’ve had prime ministers in the past who have received penalty notices, from what I can see, and also front bench ministers.
“I saw there was a parking notice that Tony Blair had once. We’ve seen frontbench Labour ministers and, let’s be frank, government ministers as well.”
He added: “You’ve asked me, can someone who sets the laws and the rules, can they also be someone who breaks the rules
Asked whether Mr Johnson accepts that he broke the rules, Mr Lewis replied: “In the sense that he has paid a fine that the police have decided to issue because the rules were broken.
“But that doesn’t mean that anything he said to Parliament was inaccurate at the time. What he said to Parliament he believed to be true at the time.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “The excuses of Conservative ministers are getting more pathetic by the day. There is a massive difference between getting a parking fine and Boris Johnson breaking his own lockdown rules.
“It is an insult to bereaved families and all those who made huge sacrifices while Johnson partied in Number 10. Conservative MPs need to discover their moral backbone and sack Johnson instead of defending the indefensible.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, told ITV’s Lorraine: “I have never had anybody break down in front of me because they couldn’t drive at 35mph in a 30mph zone.
“I have had no end of people in tears – in real bits – about complying with rules that really, really hurt them.”
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: “The excuses of Conservative ministers are getting more pathetic by the day.
“There is a massive difference between getting a parking fine and Boris Johnson breaking his own lockdown rules.
“It is an insult to bereaved families and all those who made huge sacrifices while Johnson partied in No 10.
“Conservative MPs need to discover their moral backbone and sack Johnson instead of defending the indefensible.”