Boris Johnson has faced fresh demands for his resignation ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions today after the Met Police confirmed plans to hand out 20 fines for partygate.
Pressure on the Tory leader had eased in recent weeks as the nation’s attention pivoted to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Scottish Conservative chief Douglas Ross had backed down on his calls for Mr Johnson to step down over the scandal while the crisis in eastern Europe rages on.
Even Labour’s Keir Starmer and the SNP’s Ian Blackford admitted it may be best for the prime minister to remain in his post during the conflict to avoid instability.
But the first wave of penalty notices for Westminster lockdown breaches has brought the scandal back into the public eye.
The PM can expect to field questions in the House of Commons today over why he denied in December there had been any lockdown breaches.
Mr Johnson insisted no rules had been broken before the parties at the heart of government were exposed.
The SNP’s Mr Blackford tweeted last night: “We now know that @BorisJohnson knowingly misled Parliament. He repeatedly lied. He has to resign.”
It’s understood Mr Johnson has not yet been fined himself as police investigations continue.
However, it’s known he attended a Downing Street garden party in May 2020 while the rest of the nation stayed at home.
Building bridges
The prime minister hosted a dinner with MPs last night as he tried to build bridges with them to move past the fiasco.
Senior backbenchers including former Brexit secretary David Davis were among those who had urged their leader to quit.
SNP MP Kirsten Oswald said yesterday: “This damning development once again highlights the scale of rule-breaking at the heart of Boris Johnson’s corrupt government.
“While the public were following the rules imposed upon us all and making difficult sacrifices to protect each other, Boris Johnson and his Tory colleagues were breaking them without a care.”
We now know that @BorisJohnson knowingly mislead Parliament. He repeatedly lied. He has to resign. https://t.co/0bEIdWsMdm
— Ian Blackford 🇺🇦🏴 (@Ianblackford_MP) March 29, 2022