Thursday, March 31, 2022
Boris Johnson in denial
Rather strangely, the upshot of the Metropolitan Police issuing fines to members of staff at number 10 Downing Street for breaking the law during lockdown, was not an open admission that they got it wrong and an apology, but an actual debate amongst ministers as to whether they had actually don anything wrong.
As the Independent reports, that Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, very reluctantly admitted that laws were broken in Whitehall, while Boris Johnson is at odds with his deputy, Dominic Raab, over the scandal, as he refused to to endorse the justice secretary’s admission that Covid regulations were broken:
Mr Raab’s comments followed 24 hours in which No 10 had refused to accept the decision of the Met police to issue 20 fines for lockdown breaches amounted to proof of law-breaking.
During a committee yesterday, the prime minister repeatedly ducked questions on the issue, stressing he would not comment until Scotland Yard had concluded its probe into 12 events held in No 10.
Quizzed on whether Mr Raab “misspoke” after he suggested on Wednesday morning there were breaches of the law, Ms Trevelyan told Sky News: “No, he is the justice secretary and he has set out a position.
“I think if you or I get a fine, we hopefully pay it and move on from there. And I hope, and I assume, that those who have been fined by the police will pay their fines and that will be the punishment that they have accepted.”
Pressed on whether 20 fines being issued meant there were 20 instances of people breaking the law, she said: “Well, that’s right. They’ve broken the regulations that were set in the Covid Act, and police deem that that was what they did and therefore they’ve been fined accordingly.”
Asked why the PM would not say this, she added: “Because, as I say, he wants to wait until the whole process of the police review has been done.”
This sort of denial does the government no good whatsoever. The whole British public know they did wrong, isn't it about time the Tories admited it?
As the Independent reports, that Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, very reluctantly admitted that laws were broken in Whitehall, while Boris Johnson is at odds with his deputy, Dominic Raab, over the scandal, as he refused to to endorse the justice secretary’s admission that Covid regulations were broken:
Mr Raab’s comments followed 24 hours in which No 10 had refused to accept the decision of the Met police to issue 20 fines for lockdown breaches amounted to proof of law-breaking.
During a committee yesterday, the prime minister repeatedly ducked questions on the issue, stressing he would not comment until Scotland Yard had concluded its probe into 12 events held in No 10.
Quizzed on whether Mr Raab “misspoke” after he suggested on Wednesday morning there were breaches of the law, Ms Trevelyan told Sky News: “No, he is the justice secretary and he has set out a position.
“I think if you or I get a fine, we hopefully pay it and move on from there. And I hope, and I assume, that those who have been fined by the police will pay their fines and that will be the punishment that they have accepted.”
Pressed on whether 20 fines being issued meant there were 20 instances of people breaking the law, she said: “Well, that’s right. They’ve broken the regulations that were set in the Covid Act, and police deem that that was what they did and therefore they’ve been fined accordingly.”
Asked why the PM would not say this, she added: “Because, as I say, he wants to wait until the whole process of the police review has been done.”
This sort of denial does the government no good whatsoever. The whole British public know they did wrong, isn't it about time the Tories admited it?
