Boris Johnson is a liability – for the Tories and for Britain

Who will go first? The latest crop of Partygate fixed penalty notices has created quite a “moment”. Not only is the prime minister being fined for committing a criminal offence, but the chancellor of the exchequer too. (The prime minister’s wife has also been given a ticket, another historic moment, though she is of course not an officeholder.)

Of the many unwelcome “firsts” credited to this prime minister, breaking laws he himself framed and pushed through parliament is a remarkable, if dishonourable, achievement.

Out of the party-loving Downing Street neighbours, it is Rishi Sunak who is the more likely to decide the game isn’t worth the candle. He was in some trouble even before the Metropolitan Police sent him his unwelcome piece of mail, and the fact he has already moved his family out of Downing Street may be a sign of serious disillusion with politics and his party (and the feeling is mutual).

Mr Sunak also made an explicit statement, without caveats, to the House of Commons that he did not attend any parties contravening the lockdown rules. The fixed penalty office says otherwise. The penalty for knowingly misleading parliament is clear and well-established. For the proud, youthful and ambitious Mr Sunak there’s not much point in waiting to be sacked by Boris Johnson, or his successor, and languishing for many years on the backbenches with the consolation of a select committee to chair. Mr Sunak, like some of his predecessors, might just want to take the prime minister down with him, with a personal statement that indicates a wider dissatisfaction with the way Mr Johnson runs the government.

Although Mr Sunak is no longer much of a contender for No 10, which would ordinarily be a relief for Mr Johnson, his putative resignation leaves Mr Johnson badly exposed. If Mr Sunak does quit, and for a probably lesser offence than Mr Johnson, and passed on appealing to the magistrates’ court, then why not Mr Johnson?

The obvious answer is that Mr Johnson’s habit is to buy time and keep his options open in the hope that something will turn up. First, he told us to wait for his permanent private secretary to find the facts, until it emerged this official was at a party. Then we were asked to await the Sue Gray report. Then it was the outcome of the police investigation. Now, perhaps, we will be requested to contain ourselves until his appeal against the fixed penalty notice has been heard by the magistrates. Or we should hang on until the war in Ukraine is over – which may be a long time coming.

As the fines fan out, it becomes plain that all the relevant Covid rules were not complied with and there was widespread criminality at the centre of government – a “one rule for us, another rule for you” mentality.

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The assurances that the rules were followed, repeatedly and solemnly given by Boris Johnson to the House of Commons were inaccurate, to put it mildly. He wants to claim that the information he was given by officials was wrong, and that he inadvertently misled parliament. Yet those officials and the chancellor and the prime minister himself were actually present at various gatherings – there are fixed penalty notices and pictures to prove it – and the number of fines indicates the rule-breaking was common knowledge and widely tolerated.

Mr Johnson inculcated a hypocritical culture at a time of national anguish. It is still shameful.

The best that can be said is that the British criminal justice system is still independent and robust enough to serve a fixed penalty notice on the two most powerful figures in government. But the circumstances are nothing to be proud of. The Conservatives have a slippery, incompetent leader.

Gone are the days when “Boris” was an electoral talisman. He is now a liability, and presiding over an administration with the stench of decline around it. The war in Ukraine and the economic crisis demand that the government focus on the challenges facing the country. Tory MPs, and particularly the members of the cabinet, must look to their own consciences now.