UK PM Boris Johnson forced to explain actions in fresh partygate row

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been forced to explain his actions in a new partygate controversy.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been forced to explain, by his own independent ethics adviser, why he believed that the partygate fine slapped on him by Scotland Yard did not breach the country’s Ministerial Code.

Lord Christopher Geidt, who reports directly to the Prime Minister in an advisory capacity, said in an annual report on ministerial interests released on Tuesday that a “legitimate question” has arisen as to the fixed penalty notice issued by the Metropolitan Police over a Covid lockdown-breaching birthday party at Downing Street in June 2020.

The report notes that Johnson must set out his “case in public”.

"I did not consider that the circumstances in which I received a fixed-penalty notice were contrary to the regulations," Johnson said in a letter of explanation to Geidt, which has been made public.

"I have accepted the outcome and paid for it in compliance with legal requirements. Paying a fixed-penalty notice is not a criminal conviction," he said.

Geidt was also critical in his report about having repeatedly counselled the Prime Minister’s advisers that he must offer a public comment on his obligations under “his own” Ministerial Code, a breach of which usually leads to a minister’s resignation.

“That advice has not been heeded and, in relation to the allegations about unlawful gatherings in Downing Street, the Prime Minister has made not a single public reference to the Ministerial Code,” said the ethics adviser, who, according to "The Times", was on the verge of resigning over the issue.