Brandon Lewis defends colleagues as Boris Johnson prepares to face MPs
A cabinet minister has defendedand Rishi Sunak over their Partygate penalties, equating them to fines issued to speeding motorists, as the prime minister prepares to argue he did not mislead parliament.
“I saw there was a parking notice that Tony Blair had once. We’ve seen frontbench Labour ministers [be fined] and, let’s be frank, government ministers as well.” Facing claims that the prime minister deliberately misled MPs over his knowledge of a Downing Street party, Lewis said Johnson’s apology did not mean that what he had earlier told parliament was not correct.
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said he had “talked about understanding the strength of feeling about this issue, which is why he has apologised and fully respects the outcome of the police investigation”. “I can’t speak to what may or may not have happened in in other workplaces where people are required to be in work,” he added.Lewis talked down any prospect of a leadership challenge against Johnson, saying the prime minister was focused on “how we move our country forward” and getting the “big calls right” – pointing to Brexit, Covid, the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.
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