A Cumbrian MP has given his response to the news that both the Chancellor and Prime Minister have been issued with fines for lockdown-breaking events in Downing Street.
Both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were issued with fixed penalty notices for an event on June 19, 2020, while the Metropolitan Police says it has issued more than 50 people with fines over parties held in Downing Street.
The fine calls into question comments made by the Prime Minister to MPs in December.
He told the House of Commons: “I repeat that I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no COVID rules were broken.”
In a statement, Barrow and Furness Conservative MP Simon Fell said: “I have been clear through this sorry process that breaking the rules that you are responsible for setting is unacceptable and that the appropriate consequences should follow.
“It is quite clear that the behaviour of many people who worked at the centre of government while the country was locked down was exactly that: unacceptable. These events simply should not have occurred.
“At its heart, this issue is about culture and propriety. The initial Sue Gray report rightly set out the issues around the culture in Downing Street. These have been addressed through personnel and structural changes with, I expect, more to follow.
“The PM and the Chancellor have accepted their fines and apologised publicly. The FPNs were issued for an unscheduled event where staff in No 10 surprised the PM with a birthday cake for less than 10 minutes before the work day continued.
“With that event being the reason for the fines, I do not believe the offence is proportionate to removing the Prime Minister and destabilising the government for months. I also don’t – on the basis of this event – believe that parliament was misled. Certainly I would not call the 10 minute sharing of a birthday cake in the middle of a working day a ‘party’.
“I have taken a good deal of time to think about this over the last few weeks, chatting to constituents on the doorstep and taking their minds.
“I remain angry and frustrated at events, but in my heart, I just don’t think that this event merits the removal of a Prime Minister, or that now is the right time to plunge headfirst into a leadership election when the world is facing down a dangerous dictator who is threatening our European neighbours in Ukraine, while we recover from a global pandemic, or as we respond to the rising price of energy. It simply wouldn’t be the balanced or responsible thing to do.
“And while I understand why people would be unsatisfied with this position, it’s my honest view, come to after much thought. Be assured, I will be sharing each and every piece of correspondence on this matter with the PM and Chancellor.”
A former Penrith Conservative MP says the Prime Minister “must go” over Partygate.
