British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied he broke the ministerial code over the “partygate” scandal, stressing there was “no intent” to breach COVID-19 lockdown rules.
Johnson, his wife Carrie, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were all fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending a birthday gathering for the prime minister in Number 10 Downing Street in June 2020.
The prime minister’s ethics adviser Lord Geidt said that a “legitimate question” had arisen as to whether the fine might have constituted a breach of the “overarching duty within the ministerial code of complying with the law.”
In his latest annual report on ministers’ interests, published on May 31, Lord Geidt wrote: “It may be that the prime minister considers that no such breach of his ministerial code has occurred. In that case, I believe a prime minister should respond accordingly, setting out his case in public.”…