Inside Politics: ‘Buck stops with the PM’, says Labour as Met issues 20 Partygate fines
Opposition says Johnson ‘lied’ to parliament and ‘the country’ as it calls for him to resign after Met Police confirms law broken at the heart of government during lockdown, writes Matt Mathers
The Met Police’s decision to fine government officials for breaking Covid laws during lockdown answers one burning question about the Partygate scandal, but leaves several others very much open. We now know, without doubt, that staff at the heart of power broke the very rules they were asking the rest of us to follow – a damning indictment of Boris Johnson’s leadership, whichever way you look at it. What we still don’t know is whether or not the prime minister will be among those who are handed fixed penalty notices and what impact that could have on his premiership. No 10 suggested yesterday that the PM is not among those listed in the initial tranche of sanctions and repeated its line that it would give an update “if that were to occur”. A spokesman added that “our position hasn’t changed” in terms of whether or not he would resign if so.
At the very least, the fines weaken Johnson’s claim to MPs in the Commons on 1 December that “all guidance was followed completely in No 10” during Covid lockdowns. Labour says the fines demonstrate that the PM is a “liar” who repeatedly misled parliament and the country. While a minister who has mislead parliament is expected to resign, proving that he or she did so knowingly is incredibly difficult. Meanwhile, the mood among Tory MPs, who were wined and dined by Johnson at a luxury hotel in central London last night, has shifted. Some, including the party’s leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross, have publicly withdrawn their calls for him to resign. Yet multiple focus groups and polls have shown that while public anger about the scandal may have subsided somewhat, the events that took place in Downing Street at a time of national crisis have not been forgotten. Johnson looks safe for now at least, although Conservative MPs could once again become restless and attempt to remove him if the party has poor results at May’s local elections.
Inside the bubble
Our politics commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for:
A double dose of Boris Johnson, just as “partygate” is back in the news. After prime minister’s questions, he will face a 90-minute grilling (plus extra time) from the liaison committee of senior MPs on the cost-of-living crisis and the Ukraine war.
Richard Harrington, the refugees minister, will be questioned the Levelling Up select committee about the slow start to the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The Treasury committee will hear the (less than flattering) verdict of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Resolution Foundation and Institute for Government think tanks on Rishi Sunak’s spring statement.
Coming up:
– Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting on Sky News Breakfast at 8.05am
– Deputy PM Dominic Raab on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.20am
Daily Briefing
- UKRAINE LATEST: Ukraine has accused Russia of attempting to “mislead” its troops after a pledge by the Kremlin in talks yesterday to scale back military operations in two key areas. Moscow said it was willing to “drastically” reduce combat operations around Kyiv, the capital, and the northern city of Chernihiv “to boost mutual trust”. But Ukraine’s military said the offer was “probably a rotation of individual units and aims to mislead”, suggesting Russia was using the offer of scaling back the fighting to withdraw, regroup and launch further attacks at a later date. As expected, the peace talks in Istanbul ended without a ceasefire and any major breakthrough and Russian shelling continues this morning, with explosions heard in the outskirts of Kyiv. In its latest update on the war, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said some Russian units have been forced to return to Belarus to reorganise and resupply. “Russia will likely continue to compensate for its reduced ground manoeuvre capability through mass artillery and missile strikes,” it added. “Russia’s stated focus on an offensive in Donetsk and Luhansk is likely a tacit admission that it is struggling to sustain more than one significant axis of advance.” We’ll have all the latest updates on our liveblog.
- PARTY PEOPLE: The Met Police has confirmed that it will issue 20 fines against government officials who broke Covid laws during lockdown. The story is not dominating in the way that it might have before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, but still makes the front of several outlets this morning, although a tearful Queen at Prince Philip’s memorial service dominates the front pages. After Scotland Yard confirmed that lawbreaking had taken place at the heart of government at a time of national crisis, Boris Johnson faced renewed calls to resign as No 10 refused to accept that the prime minister had misled parliament when he told MPs that “all guidance was followed completely” in Downing Street. “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,” Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said. No 10 also said that staff would not be forced to disclose whether or not they have been fined but that it would disclose if Johnson and Simon Case, the cabinet secretary are hit with fines. In an attempt to soften the blow of the fines, the PM went on a charm offensive with his MPs last night by treating them to dinner at a luxury hotel in central London, where they were heckled by bereaved families of Covid victims.
- FRESH BREXIT DELAY: The government is exploring a controversial further delay to post-Brexit checks on imports from the EU because of growing alarm that they will exacerbate the cost of living crisis. The controls – already shelved three times – are due to finally come into force in July, but will add an estimated £1bn to the costs of trade, which has already plunged since Brexit. There are also fears that EU suppliers will choose to shun the UK as the mountain of Brexit red tape grows, leading to some foods disappearing from shops and further price hikes. Now The Independent has learnt that some of Johnson’s aides are “sympathetic” to the idea of further delay, with the prime minister expected to be briefed in the coming days.
- MOVE TO BAN FIRE & REHIRE: The fall out from P&O’s scandalous sacking of 800 workers without notice is rumbling on and the government has now promised to clamp down on the “fire and rehire” practices that enabled bosses at the now disgraced frim to carry out the move. Labour says ministers had previously dismissed its concerns about the practice. And now Paul Scully, a business minister, said on Tuesday that government would take action and promised to introduce a new “statutory code of practice” to discourage such tactics. Scully said the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy would bring in a new code on “dismissal and reengagement” aimed at boosting compensation pay-outs. In a written statement, the BEIS minister said the planned changes should allow employment tribunal panels to “award an uplift in compensation to the employee, subject to a maximum of 25 per cent of the overall award”. Scully added: “This increases the size of the sanction for companies who abuse the process and do not treat their employees fairly – and should provide a further deterrent effect.”
- PUBLIC SPENDING WARNING: An estimated £2.7bn of taxpayers’ money is at risk from government PPE contracts, with millions being spent on items in storage, a new report by the National Audit Office has warned. The public spending watchdog said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was still dealing with the result of emergency procurement decisions during the Covid pandemic, with 3.6 billion items deemed unsuitable for use currently in storage. In total 14.2 billion items of PPE remain in storage – at an estimated £7m-a-month cost – with DHSC attempting to reduce excess stock by selling, repurposing, donating, or recycling equipment. Over half (53 per cent) of the 51 VIP lanes suppliers – firms suggested by government officials, ministers’ offices, MPs and health staff – provided some PPE that the government considers not currently suitable for frontline services, the body added.
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
On the record
“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.”
A Met Police spokesperson suggests there could be more Partygate fines handed out in the near future.
From the Twitterati
“One MP told me outside tonight’s event, with no irony, that ‘it’s not a party, it’s colleagues getting together.’ Which sounded somewhat familiar.”
ITV News UK editor Paul Brand speaks to Tory MPs as they arrive for the PM’s get together.
Essential reading
- John Rentoul, The Independent: The law was broken – yet Boris Johnson is likely to survive. How and why?
- Vince Cable, The Independent: The Brexiteers are coming for a ‘zero carbon’ economy – we must be prepared
- Isabel Hardman, The Spectator: Labour is falling into the Tim Farron trap on sex and gender
- Daniel Finkelstein, The Times: Defence will make good Europeans of us all
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