First Tory MP calls for Johnson to quit after receiving Covid fine
The first Conservative MP has called for Boris Johnson to resign after he received a fine from the Metropolitan Police for breaking his own Covid restrictions.
Amber Valley MP Nigel Mills today said Johnson’s position is no longer tenable and that “I don’t think a Prime Minister can survive or should survive breaking the rules he put in place”.
Johnson apologised last night for breaching Covid restrictions in June 2020 when he attended his own work birthday party in Downing Street, however he vowed to stay on as Prime Minister.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Carrie Johnson were also fined for attending the event.
Tory MPs, including those who previously called for Johnson to resign at the height of the partygate scandal in January, have largely rowed behind the PM and said he should not leave while Russia is waging war in Ukraine.
Mills told the BBC: “In all conscience I don’t think a Prime Minister can survive or should survive breaking the rules he put in place and he was on the TV every few nights, reminding us all that we should observe.
“We have to have higher standards than that of people at the top. He has been fined, I don’t think his position is tenable, in my view.”
The Met’s investigation into more than a dozen Downing Street and Whitehall events during strict Covid restrictions is continuing, leaving the possibility open of Johnson receiving more fines.
A report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into the saga is also expected to be released in its entirety, after it was held up by the police investigation.
Johnson’s former Brexit sherpa Lord David Frost told LBC this morning that the PM “has the right to be trusted” and that “it is so important that he explains himself to parliament and explains why he said what he did”.
“I think, as I saw suggested this morning, if there is some thought of bringing forward the Sue Gray report I think that would be a good idea,” Frost said.
“I think it is important to bring transparency, to be clear what has happened, for the Prime Minister to make his case and people to judge him.
“I don’t think it will be enough just to say ‘nothing to see here, move on’. I think it would dog the party and it would dog the Prime Minister unless he can be clear and explain to people what happened and why.”