2 The Week Junior • 23 April 2022
T
here have been calls for the Prime Minister, Boris
Johnson, and the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to resign
after they were both fined by the police for attending
a party in No. 10 Downing Street (the Prime Minister’s
official residence) during lockdown. A fine is money
people have to pay as punishment for breaking a rule.What happened?
On 12 April, it was announced that Johnson and Sunak
had been given fines by the Metropolitan Police
(London’s police force). This was for a birthday party
for Johnson at 10 Downing Street in June 2020, which
broke the rules against social gatherings that were in
place at the time to stop the spread of coronavirus.
This made Johnson the first person in British
history to be punished for breaking the law while they
were Prime Minister. The police have been looking
into several parties that were reported to have
taken place in 10 Downing Street during lockdown.
This follows a report into the parties by Sue Gray,
a Government official. So far, the police have given
more than 50 fines, called fixed penalty notices
(FPNs), to people who attended parties in
10 Downing Street.How have Johnson and Sunak responded?
Johnson and Sunak have both apologised for being at
the party. On 12 April, Johnson said he did not realise
that he was breaking the rules. Johnson’s wife, Carrie,
was also given a fine for attending the same event.
The fines were £50. On 19 April, Johnson spoke
to Members of Parliament (MPs) for the
first time since receiving the fine. He
apologised again and told MPs it did
not occur to him that the gathering
could be “a breach of the rules”.What have other people said?
Following Johnson’s apology in
Parliament, many politicians have
called on him to resign (step down from
the job). Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour
Party, accused Johnson of being dishonest for telling
Parliament he had not been at any gatherings that
broke lockdown rules. Starmer also said that Johnson
did not “respect the sacrifice made by the British
public”. The Labour Party is the Government’s main
opposition in Parliament. Conservative Party MP
Mark Harper called for Johnson to resign as PrimeMinister. He said, “I no longer think he is worthy
of the great office that he holds.” On 13 April, the
Justice Minister David Wolfson resigned from the
Government over the fines. He said the Prime
Minister’s behaviour was “inconsistent with the rule
of law”. Members of the public are also unhappy.
Kieron McArdle told The Guardian, “The
Government should be ashamed of
themselves. The people who were
supposed to be setting an example
and who set the rules, they had
numerous parties, it’s just not fair.”Will there be any more fines?
At the time The Week Junior went
to press, Johnson had not received any
more fines. However, the Metropolitan
Police are investigating 12 parties in total. It is
thought that Johnson may have attended as many
as six of these parties. So far, he has only been
fined for one of them. On 20 April, MPs were due
to vote on whether Johnson should be investigated
for misleading Parliament about the rule-breaking
gatherings and parties.Prime Minister fined for lockdown party
One of the reasons why
some people think Johnson
should resign is for breaking
something called the
ministerial code. This is a list
of rules for how people in the
Government should behave.
It says any ministers (senior
politicians) who knowingly
mislead (give incorrect
information to) Parliament
should resign. Johnson is said
to have misled Parliament
when he denied breaking Covid
rules. Johnson’s supporters say
he thought he was telling the
truth because he didn’t realise
that the event broke the rules.Both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Ministerial code
have been fined by police.David
WolfsonThis week’s big news
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