Cabinet minister suggests Boris ‘mijudged’ Partygate but shouldn’t quit
A Cabinet minister today insisted Boris Johnson should not resign if he is fined over Partygate – but suggested he had lacked ‘judgment’.
In a round of interviews this morning, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart argued that voters would want ‘contrition and an apology’ for ‘inappropriate’ behaviour.
The stance came as the PM waits nervously to hear if he will be issued with a fixed penalty notice, after Downing Street staff started to receive them.
Mr Johnson’s position with Tory MPs seems to have strengthened after he was perceived as handling the Ukraine crisis well.
And signalling a growing determination to try to tough it out whatever the outcome of the inquiry, Mr Hart told Sky News that the public did not want the PM to go.
‘I have 65,000 constituents in west Wales, where I represent, and they are not shy in coming forward and expressing a view about this and a number of other subjects,’ he said.
‘And throughout all of this saga of the Downing Street parties they have said one thing very clearly, and in a vast majority they say they want contrition and they want an apology, but they don’t want a resignation.’
‘The idea that it might be appropriate to have a six-week indulgent self-indulgent leadership contest… frankly I don’t think that’s very sensible either.’
Mr Hart went on: ‘We all make judgments which we have time to reflect on and wish we had made differently… for me personally speaking I think the world has moved on, it’s considerable distance.
‘I trust the views of the people who elected me, in saying ”look, put this problem right, make sure you apologise. You acted inappropriately at the time.”
‘But the idea that every politician or indeed every journalist for that matter who makes a misjudgment along the way should automatically be sacked is not something I subscribe to.’
In a round of interviews this morning, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart argued that voters would want ‘contrition and an apology’ for ‘inappropriate’ behaviour
Boris Johnson is waiting nervously to hear if he will be issued with a fixed penalty notice, after Downing Street staff started to receive them
Despite the bullish message, problems are still festering for the PM.
Conservative MP Steve Brine said last night there should be transparency about who has been issued with fines.
No 10 has so far only promised to confirm if Mr Johnson or Cabinet Secretary Simon Case are given a fixed-penalty notice.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, the Winchester Mr Brine said: ‘They should just be honest about who’s been tipped off with what and put it all out there and say, you know what, we got this wrong, or this person’s got this fine, because these guys in the press, they won’t focus on the issues of the local election, they’ll scratch around and try and dig all this stuff up again.’
Downing Street aides are being issued with fines over a notorious rowdy leaving do on the eve of Prince Philip‘s funeral, it was claimed today.
The police action over the event in No10 in April 2021 marks the closest the probe has come yet to Boris Johnson – although the PM was not at the event itself and is still nervously waiting to learn his fate.
Meanwhile, a former Whitehall ethics chief is believed to be among the first to receive a fixed penalty over Partygate.
Helen MacNamara, who was Deputy Cabinet Secretary before leaving the civil service last year, was reportedly handed a £50 fine over a ‘raucous’ karaoke party in June 2020 where there was a drunken brawl.
Helen MacNamara, who was Deputy Cabinet Secretary before leaving the civil service last year, was reportedly handed a £50 fine over a ‘raucous’ karaoke party in June 2020 where there was a drunken brawl
The Queen sits alone at the funeral of Prince Philip in April last year. The day before Downing Street aides are said to have held a rowdy leaving do
Former No10 director of communications James Slack has said he was ‘deeply sorry’ for the ‘anger and hurt’ caused by his leaving do in April 2021, saying it ‘should not have happened at the time that it did’. It is not known whether he has been fined.
The Met has been sending notifications to individuals via email after declaring that it was sending out an initial batch of 20 FPNs.
In one of the most damaging episodes in the Partygate scandal, Downing Street staff were said to have gathered after work for two separate events on April 16 2021, as the country was in mourning after the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.
One was for former No10 director of communications James Slack and the second for a photographer.
The two bashes later appeared to merge, with officials said to have brought in booze in a suitcase and partied until the early hours of the morning.
Takeaway pizzas were reported to have been ordered in and some of the revellers were said to have used a slide and a swing belonging to Mr Johnson’s son Wilfred – with claims the latter was broken.
The following day, the Queen sat alone – socially distanced from her family – as she said goodbye to her husband.
No 10 previously said an apology had been extended to Buckingham Palace. Mr Slack said in January that he was ‘deeply sorry’ for the ‘anger and hurt’ caused by the leaving do, saying it ‘should not have happened at the time that it did’. It is not known whether he has been fined.
According to the Telegraph, Ms MacNamara was among those who attended a separate farewell do for Downing Street aide Hannah Young, who was moving to New York to join the staff at the British Consulate General.
No ministers are believed to have been in attendance at the event which took place in June 2020.
It was apparently held in the Cabinet Secretary’s office at 70 Whitehall because it was big enough and had two rooms.
Sir Mark Sedwill, who was Cabinet Secretary at the time, and former adviser Dominic Cummings, are said to have briefly attended.
However, neither are thought to be among those fined.
Sources told the newspaper the leaving do went on until 3am and that a drunken spat developed between two guests which others had to break up.
Ms MacNamara entered the civil service in 2002, joining the Department for Culture, Media and Sport where she played a key role in London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympics.
One Tory minister described the mother of four as ‘a perfect official, fair-minded, doesn’t play games, will always try to get at the truth, capable of bringing sense out of five-sided talks’.
At the time of the event, she was serving as deputy Cabinet Secretary.
Ms MacNamara left Government in February last year to work for the Premier League as director of policy and corporate affairs.
The Metropolitan Police said last Tuesday that investigators were referring 20 notices to the ACRO Criminal Records Office, which is responsible for issuing the penalties.
The force made clear that more fines could be issued as inquiries continue, but the identities of recipients will not be disclosed.
The fines reportedly relate a party in June 2020, understood to be a leaving do for an aide, Hannah Young (pictured), who was leaving Downing Street for a Government role in the US.
Mr Johnson is not expected to be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police as part of their ‘partygate’ investigation.
The force is not interviewing those who have received questionnaires as part of the inquiries and could potentially be fined, according to ITV.
The Met is investigating 12 events, including as many as six that Mr Johnson is said to have attended, and has sent out more than 100 questionnaires.
Details of Hannah Young’s leaving do only emerged after Sue Gray completed her inquiry into potential lockdown breaches by civil servants.
Senior mandarin Ms Gray carried out the probe into claims of lockdown breaches at the top of Government but has only published an interim report while she waits for the police investigation to be completed.
Out of 16 events Ms Gray reviewed, police are investigating 12 of them, including as many as six that the Prime Minister is reported to have attended.
One such party was allegedly organised by Carrie Johnson in the official Downing Street residence on November 13, 2020.
Another was the ‘bring your own booze’ garden which took place during the first lockdown in May 2020.
It is not clear whether a thirteenth event is under investigation. A Downing Street quiz, partly hosted by the PM, was initially rejected as not meeting the threshold, but police later said they were ‘assessing’ after a new picture emerged.