LONDON | Around 50 additional fines have been notified in the investigation into parties held in British power circles during lockdowns, police said on Thursday, bringing the total to more than 100 fines.
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak were themselves fined in April for attending a birthday party to mark Mr Johnson’s 56th birthday in the council chamber ministers in June 2020.
The police announced Thursday that they have now sent a total of “more than 100” fines for breaches of anti-Covid rules as part of this investigation, specifying that this “is continuing”.
Boris Johnson apologized “unreservedly” to Parliament after receiving the fine, without convincing the opposition who had asked for his resignation.
The Tory leader said it “did not occur to him then or afterwards” that his attendance at the brief gathering on his birthday “could constitute a breach of the rules” then in force.
The revelation of a series of festive events in Downing Street or in circles of power shocked the British, forced at the same time by law to limit their social interactions.
This “partygate” has caused the popularity of Boris Johnson to plummet, whose Conservative party also suffered a major setback in the local elections in early May, in a context of galloping inflation and a purchasing power crisis adding to the scandal.
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