Boris Johnson MP has insisted that the Prime Minister did not break the ministerial code even though he was fined by the police for attending a No. 10 party in confinement, as the head of government ethics allegedly threatened to resign. the scandal.
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister and secretary of justice, said Wednesday that Johnson had only violated the law “unintentionally” and “involuntarily” by attending a 10th anniversary meeting during the confinement, which led him to be fined by the police.
He said this did not violate the ministerial code, although the prime minister’s ethics chief, Lord Geidt, asked if it had been so.
Geidt’s future on paper is in doubt after he said it was a “legitimate” question if Johnson had breached the code. In response, the Prime Minister made it clear that he did not believe the code had been broken.
The prime minister is still the only one who can give permission for an ethics investigation and made clear on Tuesday his intention to block his own conduct on the fixed sanction notice.
The dispute with Geidt is the latest headache for the prime minister, as he faces a wave of discontent from his MPs over the fixed-sanction warning. More than 40 Conservative MPs have publicly questioned Johnson’s ability to hold office, including 18 who are known to have sent letters to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Conservative Committee of Deputies, to formally ask for a vote of confidence.
The rest have openly called for the resignation of the prime minister or said they have lost faith in his leadership.
Raab said he did not believe there would be a censure vote against Boris Johnson next week. He told Sky News: “I don’t see it. I think the bubble and the people of Westminster are whipping up these things. I’m not saying it’s not serious and significant. But we dealt with all these issues, the Prime Minister has dealt with all these issues.”
Speaking to broadcasters, Raab said that Geidt “had made a number of concerns clear, but the Prime Minister has addressed them in his response and, in particular, made clear the explanation that he did not believe he had broken the ministerial code. “.
“In relation to the single notice of fixed sanction, it had been an unintentional and involuntary breach of the law in the sense that he went to the rally without realizing that he would violate the relevant regulations.
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Raab did not deny that Geidt had threatened to resign, saying he was “unaware” of the talks.
It comes after Johnson rejected calls on Geidt to have the power to initiate his own investigations into the conduct of the prime minister or other cabinet members.
Last week, Johnson also changed the code to make it clear that ministers should not necessarily resign, even if they are found to have breached the code, suggesting an apology or loss of pay as an alternative remedy.
Raab also noted that Gordon Brown allowed Lady Scotland to keep her job as Attorney General in 2009, despite being fined for hiring a mistress who had stayed illegally in the country.
“I’m just saying there are precedents for this … I think it’s clear from the circumstances of this particular meeting, where he showed up, he was there for 10 minutes, I didn’t know it was a surprise birthday cake for he, that was “t a deliberate breach of the rules, and that’s the key point,” Raab told Times Radio.