PM Boris Johnson found to have broken the law, and he's not resigning: the story of Partygate

Around 50 penalty fines were handed out by the Met Police for events that happened over lockdown. Boris Johnson, his wife and chancellor, Rishi Sunak have been found to have broken the law and attended at least one of these suspicious 'events'. He is the first PM found to have broken the law. How does Boris feel about it?

Boris has said he will pay the fine, but not resign. In a fascinating statement, according to The Guardian, the PM declared he was ‘mortified’ to have broken the rules. He also said he 'did not realise he was in breach of laws' - ones that his own administration had put in place.

The BBC reported earlier this month that fines had been issued to attendees of an event held on the 16th April 2021. Despite the party being held at Downing Street, the PM, Boris Johnson did not attend and was safe at that point. That was until the birthday party on 19 June 2020 in the cabinet room was investigated and he was found to have broken the law.

The first batch of fines, which were verified by the BBC, had been given out to those who attended a leaving party for the former No 10 director of communications, James Slack.

The penalty fines, which were issued by email, state that the police believe 'there are reasonable grounds that an offence was committed in contravention of Covid regulations', as reported by the BBC.

These investigations, carried out by the Met police, are off the back of the Sue Gray report - the findings of which shocked the public in January 2022. Just a few months ago, she had released initial findings from her report where she had been investigating possible rule-breaking during the pandemic and, most importantly, during lockdown.

Only initial findings were released as Ms Gray said she had been "extremely limited" by the police investigation. She said, according to The BBC, that a "meaningful" report could not be released yet.

Sue Gray interviewed 70 individuals, according to The BBC, and also examined texts, Whatsapps and phone calls to come to a conclusion. Photos and building entry and exit logs were also looked at. The people were waiting.

The Met police had been handed a staggering 300 photos of evidence after the Gray report, so that these events can be investigated in great detail.

This is the question that top civil servant, Sue Gray, has been trying to figure out. On Monday, 31st January, she released the initial findings of the report - and they weren't looking good, but so far the PM's name is clear and he didn't attend two of the events the police are currently investigating.

According to The BBC, Sue Gray said 16 events were involved in her investigation and now 12 of those are being investigated by the Met police. Three events had not yet been previously reported until Sue Gray began her investigation.

The events being investigated include the May 2020 drinks in the Downing Street garden and a birthday celebration in the Cabinet room for Mr Johnson on 19th June 2020.

Sue Gray stated that the general public was being asked to "accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives" and some government behaviour is "difficult to justify", representing a "serious failure to observe" standards. She also reported there was "too little thought" given to what was going on in the country and the affect on the public health.

There were "failures of leadership and judgement" and there should be "easier ways for staff to raise... concerns informally, outside of the line-management chain"

Sue Gray was not impressed with the drinking culture being shown to the world. The report wrote that the "excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time" and that there should be a "clear and robust policy in place covering the consumption of alcohol".

Labour leader Kier Starmer said the PM should 'do the decent thing and resign'; whilst videos of Theresa May's statement to the PM went viral.

The former Prime Minister asked if he had read or understood the Covid rules created by his government, or whether he "believed they did not apply" to No 10.

Ian Blackford, who is the SNP's leader at Westminster accused Boris Johnson of lying to MPs about the alleged events. He was ordered to leave the Commons chamber as MPs are not allowed to accuse each other of lying in the Commons.

William Hague, who is the ex-tory leader, wasn't happy with the PM's Commons 'apology'.
He wrote in The Times: "... for some reason, this very intuitive politician decided to do the minimum in responding to the report rather than go further in his apology and his proposals."

If 54 conservative MPs write a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister, there could be a vote to remove him from his position. Many of them had said they were waiting for the full report and police investigations to decide whether the PM needs to go or not.

Thanks to the BBC, we do know that Boris was at three of the events: the Downing Street garden (20 May 2020), the Cabinet Room for his own birthday (19 June 2020) and the departure of a special adviser (13 November 2020). We know rules were broken at one of those events, what about the other two?