THE MET Police have issued more than 50 new fines for breaches of Covid rules in Downing Street and other government buildings.
The Fixed Penalty Notices follow more than 50 handed out last month, including to Boris Johnson, wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Neither the PM nor Carrie Johnson are among those to be fined this time.
The latest penalties are thought to involve a Christmas party in December 2020, which Johnson did not attend.
No 10 has promised to reveal any further fines imposed on the Prime Minister.
The Met has been investigating 12 gatherings, at least three of which Johnson is known to have attended.
As he arrived for a special Cabinet meeting taking place at a pottery in Staffordshire, the Prime Minister was asked whether he was ‘shocked’ at the scale of law-breaking in No 10.
‘We’ll have plenty to say about that when the thing’s finished,’ he replied.
In a statement, the Met said the investigation ‘remains live’. Further fines are expected to follow, but no timescale has been given.
The PM and his wife were both fined last month
Senior civil servant Sue Gray and the House of Commons privileges committee are also running inquiries into what has become widely known as Partygate.
Opposition parties have called for Johnson and Sunak to resign, but Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also come under pressure after he was filmed drinking beer in City of Durham MP Mary Foy’s constituency office during coronavirus restrictions in April last year.
Durham police launched an investigation last week and Starmer – who denies any rule-breaking – has said he will resign if he is found to have been in breach of regulations in place at the time.
Last month, Johnson, Mrs Johnson and Sunak were each fined £50 over a surprise birthday party for the PM that took place in Downing Street’s Cabinet Room in June 2020.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘Boris Johnson stood up in Parliament and said Covid rules were followed in No 10 at all times.
‘Now 100 fines have been issued by the police over Partygate. It shows the shocking scale of the law-breaking in Johnson’s Downing Street and the extent of his lies.’
But Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi both backed the Prime Minister as they arrived for yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
Asked if they still had faith in Johnson, Dorries replied: ‘I do.’
‘Absolutely,’ Zahawi added.
The publication of Gray’s full report has been delayed by the Met Police investigation.
