The Prime Minister and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak have received fixed sanction notices following the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Hillman investigation into partygate. However, the Prime Minister could still face further fines.
Mr Johnson has already apologized for attending the ‘bring your own booze’ event, saying he ‘implicitly believed’ it was a business event.
Strict Covid rules were in place when the event took place on May 20, 2020.
People couldn’t leave their homes or be outside of where they lived without a reasonable excuse, which included a job where you couldn’t work from home.
On the same day, the government’s Twitter account reminded people of existing guidelines that gatherings must be limited to two people outdoors.
Mr Johnson returned to the UK on Friday after a two-day trip to India, during which he played down the party line, saying voters wanted the government to ‘focus on the issues we have been on. elected”.
In January, Mr Johnson confirmed he attended the garden party for 25 minutes to thank staff for their work, but said in hindsight he should have sent everyone inside.
The event was revealed via a leaked email from Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, urging people to ‘make the most of the good weather’.
The email was sent to a distribution list of around 100 people, and the BBC was told around 30 people attended.
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“But the problem is as much as the rules, the fact that he broke it is the fact that he presided over their creation.
“What we’ve done is criminalize completely normal, basic, fundamental human behavior and that’s really the real evil.
“People have been fined for sitting down, picnicking, having tea with neighbors and now for eating cheese, wine and birthday cake.
“In fact, what I prefer to see happen is amnesty for all those who are fined.
“Boris Johnson seems to do some pretty interesting things when he’s on his back.
“In fact, we see Boris Johnson coming back who was elected and that’s good.
“Instead, let’s keep his feet to the fire during the investigation and make sure all criticism and punishment comes for the right reasons, which is the inherent flaws of lockdown and not breaking the rules.
“A lot of people across the country are breaking the rules because they were ridiculous and they were brand new. We still don’t have good convincing evidence that they worked.
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Source: www.express.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-23 23:55:04
