Partygate fines: Boris Johnson set to apologise to MPs over lockdown breach

Boris Johnson is set to apologise for breaking his own lockdown laws when he makes his first statement to MPs since being fined by police.

The prime minister is expected to say he did not knowingly break the rules at a 2020 birthday party at No 10.

Opposition parties have accused him of lying to Parliament after he previously told them no rules had been broken.

MPs will decide on Thursday whether a Commons committee should investigate whether he has misled MPs over parties.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has accepted Labour's request for the vote, adding he had decided there was an "arguable case to be examined".

After the vote was granted, a Labour source said any Conservative MP voting against a parliamentary inquiry would be "voting for a cover-up".

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Mr Johnson has vowed to "set the record straight" when he speaks to MPs at about 16.30 BST - but he is also expected to urge MPs to focus instead on issues like rising prices and the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on ITV, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "He's not just broken the rules, he's lied to the public and he's lied to Parliament about it".

He also accused the PM of using the conflict in Ukraine as a "shield" to keep his job, adding that he finds such a tactic "pretty offensive".

Sir Keir predicted: "He will try an apology, and he will immediately then go into excuses."

'Pathetic excuses'

If MPs vote for an inquiry on Thursday, the privileges committee - made of of seven MPs - would look into whether the PM is in contempt of Parliament.

Parliamentary rules say MPs can be found in contempt for making "deliberately misleading" statements, although the sanctions for this are unclear.

However, any such move is unlikely to succeed given the government's Commons majority.

Earlier, shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said Labour was relying on Tory MPs to vote "the right way" to achieve their aims.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has been criticised for comparing the PM's lockdown fine to former ministers receiving speeding and parking fines.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called the comments an "insult to bereaved families", adding: "The excuses of Conservative ministers are getting more pathetic by the day".

Mr Johnson became the first serving UK prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law when, along with his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, he was fined last week for attending the birthday event held for him in the Cabinet Room in June 2020.

The PM is facing accusations of lying to MPs because he initially told them Covid rules had been followed in No 10 after the first reports of parties emerged last year.

Under government rules, ministers are expected to resign for knowingly misleading MPs - and correct the record as soon as possible if they inadvertently tell Parliament something false.

Mr Johnson has since said it "did not occur" to him the June 2020 event could have broken the rules. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has argued Mr Johnson had not "knowingly" mislead MPs.

SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has accused Mr Johnson of "repeatedly" lying to Parliament about his fine, and said the "basic values of integrity and decency" mean he should resign.

Alongside staff leaving parties on 18 June 2020 and 16 April 2021, the June 2020 birthday event is among three so far known to have attracted fines.

Mr Johnson is known to have attended at least two further events of the 12 being investigated by police, meaning he could be fined again.

Opposition parties are calling for the PM and chancellor to resign over their fines - but the two men have been backed by their fellow cabinet ministers.

More than 70 Conservative MPs have expressed their support for the PM since he was fined, including some who have previously called for him to go.

Since Mr Johnson was fined last week, only a handful of Tory MPs have publicly said he should quit.

What has the PM told MPs about parties?

When asked whether there was a party in Downing Street on 18 December 2020, the PM told the Commons on 1 December 2021 that "all guidance was followed completely in No 10".

After the publication of a video showing No 10 staff joking about the 18 December event, he told MPs on 8 December 2021 he had been "repeatedly assured" that "there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken".

Later that day, he told the Commons he was "sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times."

On 12 January 2022, he apologised for attending a Downing Street garden party on 20 May 2020 but said he had "believed implicitly" it was a work event.

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