A second minister has admitted that lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and Whitehall did break the law - despite Boris Johnson refusing to say whether he agrees.
International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said those handed fixed penalty notices by the Metropolitan Police earlier this week had “broken the regulations that were set in the Covid Act”.
Her comments came 24 hours after justice secretary Dominic Raab said he also believed those involved had broken the law.
But the prime minister’s official spokesman once again refused to say whether Boris Johnson agreed, insisting he would wait until the police had completed their investigation before commenting.
Appearing on Sky News, Trevelyan had repeatedly refused to say whether those in receipt of the fines issued by the Met so far had broken the law.
But 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.”
Yesterday, Raab told Sky News: “Inevitably fixed penalty notices [are issued to] those that have breached the regulations.”
But Downing Street again refused to acknowledge coronavirus laws were broken in No 10 or the Cabinet Office.
They also revealed that the PM still does not know if he will receive one of the 20 fines issued so far.
Asked why Trevelyan and Raab were prepared to say the law was broken but the Prime Minister was not, the spokesman said: “He said he would not be giving a running commentary on the investigation. He will respond once the full facts are known and once the investigation has concluded.
“As Anne-Marie Trevelyan has said, the facts are not in dispute and the prime minister has said that mistakes have been made.
“But beyond that I’m not going to be commenting and the prime minister will not be until the investigation is concluded.”
Appearing before MPs yesterday, Johnson was asked if the fines issued by the police meant that “criminality” had occurred.
He said: “I have been, I hope, very frank with the House about where I think we have gone wrong and the things that I regret, that I apologise for.
“But there is an ongoing investigation… I am going to camp pretty firmly on my position.”