LONDON, UK – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his finance minister Rishi Sunak are to receive fines for breaching strict coronavirus lockdown rules, the government said on Tuesday, April 12, prompting calls for them both to resign.
“The prime minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have today received notification that the Metropolitan Police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices,” a government spokesperson said.A spokesperson for Johnson’s wife Carrie said she would also be fined. He later apologized to parliament for attending one event, which he said he thought was work-related and also said sorry to Queen Elizabeth for another at which staff partied on the eve of her husband’s funeral.“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public. They must both resign,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party.
Earlier this year a number of Conservatives called for him to quit as public trust plummeted over the “partygate” affair and support for the government shrank. But the initial outcry was dampened by the Ukraine war in which Johnson had sought to play a major role in rallying Western nations against Russia.
On Sunday, he asked Johnson to refer his ministerial declarations to Christopher Geidt, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, to determine whether he had stuck to the rules on financial declarations.