UK's Johnson did not break COVID laws 'with malice', minister says
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[April 13, 2022]
LONDON (Reuters) - A senior British
minister said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not set
out to break COVID laws with malice and is mortified after he was fined
by police for attending a gathering during lockdown, as calls mounted
for Johnson to quit.
Johnson, his wife Carrie and finance minister Rishi Sunak were fined on
Tuesday for breaching laws the government imposed to curb COVID-19,
drawing a wave of condemnation, including from the families of those who
died alone during the pandemic.
The prime minister initially told parliament that no parties took place.
But police have investigated 12 gatherings after an internal inquiry
found his staff had enjoyed alcohol-fuelled parties at a time when
social mixing was all but banned in the country.
Johnson has since said he attended some of the events, raising the
prospect that he could face further fines.
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He said on Tuesday that it had not occurred to him that he was in breach
of the rules.
"I'm not saying that the prime minister isn't a flawed individual. We're
all flawed in different ways," transport minister Grant Shapps told Sky
News. "The question is did somebody set out to do these things with
malice?"
"The prime minister is mortified about it, but I think there's a big job
for him to get on and do on behalf of the British people, on behalf of
the world fighting this cruel war."
The revelations about boozy Downing Street parties provoked resignation
calls from lawmakers in Johnson's Conservative Party earlier this year.
However, that pressure largely abated with the war in Ukraine.
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![](../images/041322PIX/news_v85.jpg)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attends a news briefing with
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv, Ukraine April 9,
2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Apr/13/images/ads/current/atlantabank_lda_SFARM_2022.png) Johnson won a landslide election in
2019 on a promise to complete Britain's exit from the European
Union, but his premiership has been marked by a series of dramatic
events, from suspending parliament over a Brexit impasse and his own
experience of COVID.
His fine is believed to represent the first time a British leader
has been found to have broken the law while in office.
Sunak, a former banker who became chancellor on the eve of the
pandemic, took seven hours to release a statement in which he
apologised, prompting a report in the Times newspaper that he had
considered quitting.
One lawmaker in Johnson's Conservative Party said on Wednesday that
the prime minister should go. "I don't think the PM can survive or
should survive breaking the rules he put in place," Nigel Mills told
the BBC.
"He's been fined, I don't think his position is tenable."
(Reporting by Kate Holton and Muvija M; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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