London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Partygate: Explain why fine did not breach ministerial code, Boris Johnson told

Partygate: Explain why fine did not breach ministerial code, Boris Johnson told

Boris Johnson's standards adviser says there is a "legitimate question" over whether the PM broke the ministerial code after getting fined for Partygate.

Lord Geidt said he repeatedly told the PM's team to be ready to explain if his actions stuck within the rules - even if he thought there was no breach.

But he said the advice had not been "heeded", calling on Mr Johnson to set out his case to the public.

The PM said being fined by the police does not break the ministerial code,

Writing to Lord Geidt, Mr Johnson said he had "no intent to break the regulations", and that he had been "fully accountable to Parliament and the British people".

The ministerial code outlines the rules government ministers must follow when in office, including the "overarching duty" on them to comply with the law.

If the code is broken, the convention in Westminster is for a minister to resign.

Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said the report was "the latest sign of the rampant sleaze engulfing Downing Street", adding: "This prime minister has been found out and his days are numbered."

Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain also said it showed the PM's own ethics adviser "no longer trusts him to tell the truth", and that Mr Johnson was "not fit to hold public office".

The Metropolitan Police carried out an investigation into lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall after allegations surfaced towards the end of 2021.

A total of 126 fines were handed out to 83 people as a result of the force's investigation into 12 events during the pandemic.

And a wider report by senior civil servant Sue Gray revealed a drunken party culture within No 10 while the rest of the country was ordered to stay at home.

Mr Johnson - along with his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak - was given a fixed penalty notice by the Met for attending a birthday party thrown in his honour in June 2020.

Following Ms Gray's report last week, the PM apologised to the Commons, saying he had been "humbled by the whole experience" and had learned lessons.

But pressure has continued to grow, with at least 12 MPs calling on him to resign since the report's publication.


'A failure of communication'

Analysis by BBC political correspondent David Wallace Lockhart

Despite some critical language in Lord Geidt's report, the Cabinet Office is stressing that he's not resigning.

But a Downing Street source would not deny reports - published in The Times - that Lord Geidt threatened to quit on Tuesday unless Boris Johnson publicly explained his conduct.

The prime minister did publish a letter, in which he denied breaching the code, insisting there was no intent to break the rules.

He went on to stress that he'd apologised.

Lord Geidt also reveals that he repeatedly advised the prime minister - via his officials - to address this very issue in the wake of his fine.

He adds he was assured this was conveyed to Boris Johnson. In his reply Mr Johnson says there may have been "a failure of communication" between their offices.

This is the latest development raising questions about Boris Johnson's conduct, at a time when almost 30 of his own MPs have publicly called on him to go.

In his annual report on ministers' interests, Lord Geidt said questions around Mr Johnson's behaviour had led to an "impression... the prime minister may be unwilling to have his own conduct judged against" the ministerial code.

The standards adviser said it would be "especially difficult to inspire that trust in the ministerial code if any prime minister, whose code it is, declines to refer to it".

He said when it came to the Partygate fine, "a legitimate question has arisen as to whether those facts alone might have constituted a breach of the overarching duty within the ministerial code of complying with the law".

And even if the PM thought there was no breach, he should "should respond accordingly, setting out his case in public."

Lord Geidt - who reports to the prime minister - said he had avoided "offering advice" to Mr Johnson about the PM's "obligations under his own ministerial code" as he would be forced to resign if Mr Johnson rejected the advice.

But after repeatedly contacting his team "to ensure that the prime minister should publicly be seen to take responsibility for his own conduct under his own ministerial code", the prime minister had "made not a single public reference" to it.

Lord Geidt published his annual report on Tuesday


Mr Johnson said he was "not aware of the weight... put on the absence of an explicit reference to the ministerial code".

But in his letter to his adviser, he insisted he had not broken it by being fined.

The PM wrote: "I have taken full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch, and reiterated my apologise to the House and to the whole country.

"I have also been clear that there was no intent to break the regulations", he added, before saying: "Paying a fixed penalty notice is not a criminal conviction."

Mr Johnson also said that, in his view, the same principles applied to the chancellor.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×