UK premier ‘did not break Covid laws with malice’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

A senior British minister yesterday said Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not set out to break Covid laws with malice and is mortified after he was fined by police for attending a gathering during lockdown, as calls mounted for Johnson to quit. Johnson, his wife Carrie and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak were fined on Tuesday for breaching laws the government imposed to curb Covid-19, drawing a wave of condemnation, including from the families of those who died alone during the pandemic. The prime minister initially told parliament that no parties took place. But police have investigated 12 gatherings after an internal inquiry found his staff had enjoyed parties at a time when social mixing was all but banned in the country. Johnson has since said he attended some of the events, raising the prospect that he could face further fines. He said on Tuesday that it had not occurred to him that he was in breach of the rules. “I’m not saying that the prime minister isn’t a flawed individual. We’re all flawed in different ways,” Transport Minister Grant Shapps told Sky News. “The question is did somebody set out to do these things with malice?” “The prime minister is mortified about it, but I think there’s a big job for him to get on and do on behalf of the British people, on behalf of the world fighting this cruel war.” The revelations about Downing Street parties provoked resignation calls from lawmakers in Johnson’s Conservative Party earlier this year. However, that pressure largely abated with the war in Ukraine. Johnson won a landslide election in 2019 on a promise to complete Britain’s exit from the European Union, but his premiership has been marked by a series of dramatic events, from suspending parliament over a Brexit impasse and his own experience of Covid.