Laws were broken during Whitehall partygate, admits Raab

Any ministers given partygate fines will be named, vows Raab

- David Bond and Rachael Burford

COVID laws were broken by people at the heart of government, a Cabinet minister admitted today, after police issued 20 partygate fines.

But Justice Secretary Dominic Raab insisted Boris Johnson did not mislead Parliament when he claimed last year that all Covid guidance was “followed completely in Number 10”.

Mr Raab’s acknowledgment comes 24 hours after the Prime Minister’s spokesman refused to admit that the Met’s decision to ask the Criminal Records Office, Acro, to issue the notices represented a breach of the law. “Clearly there were breaches of the regulations,” Mr Raab told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “That’s the only thing that could warrant the 20 fixed penalty notices.”

Asked whether that meant the Prime Minister had lied to Parliament, he said: “He spoke to the best of his knowledge and the best of his understanding. I don’t think there was an intention to mislead. The Prime Minister in good faith updated Parliament on what he knows.”

Although the pressure on Mr Johnson’s position has subsided following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the party-gate controversy is once again threatening to destabilise his premiership. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was expected to renew his attack on Mr Johnson over whether he breached the ministerial code during Prime Minister’s Questions today.

Mr Johnson was then set to face more scrutiny in front of MPs on the influential Commons Liaison Committee.