{"id":22283,"date":"2022-04-17T10:59:32","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T10:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/04\/17\/no-10-parties-pms-lockdown-fine-constitutional-crisis-says-historian\/"},"modified":"2022-04-17T10:59:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T10:59:32","slug":"no-10-parties-pms-lockdown-fine-constitutional-crisis-says-historian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/04\/17\/no-10-parties-pms-lockdown-fine-constitutional-crisis-says-historian\/","title":{"rendered":"No 10 parties: PM’s lockdown fine constitutional crisis, says historian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Boris Johnson’s fine for breaching lockdown rules is the “most serious constitutional crisis involving a prime minister,” one historian has said.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Government history expert Lord Hennessy told the BBC Mr Johnson had “broke the law”, “misled Parliament” and “tore up the ministerial code”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Johnson is the first sitting prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After news of the fine broke, the prime minister said people had “the right to expect better” of him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Johnson has since said it “didn’t occur to him” at the time that the “brief” gathering in the Cabinet Room to mark his birthday in June 2020 could breach Covid lockdown rules.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He is known to have attended at least two other events of the 12 people being investigated by police, meaning he could be fined again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A No10 staffer who witnessed many of the events being investigated told the BBC the birthday celebration was the least serious gathering in terms of possible rule-breaking that the Prime Minister had attended.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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  • Will there be more fines for No. 10 parties?<\/li>\n
  • The Covid rules if Downing Street parties have been held <\/li>\n
  • Johnson and Sunak reject calls for resignation because of fines<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    The Prime Minister intends to update MPs on the fine when they return from the Easter break on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Opposition parties are investigating ways to hold him accountable for misleading statements made to parliament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Speaking to Broadcasting House on BBC Radio 4, cross-bench peer Lord Hennessy said: “I think we are in the gravest constitutional crisis involving a Prime Minister that I can recall.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    He added that when Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined on Tuesday, he wrote in his diary that “Tuesday the 12th in modern times of decency in public and political life and our constitutional conventions”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    “The Prime Minister sealed his place in British history as the first lawbreaker to hold the office of Prime Minister,” wrote Lord Hennessy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    He said Mr Johnson has turned his position into an “adventure playground for his narcissistic vanity”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Lord Hennessy accused the Prime Minister of “breaking the law, misleading Parliament and actually shredding the ministerial code” when he “should be the custodian of the code”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    The Prime Minister is under pressure to justify why he previously told MPs that the rules at No 10 Downing Street have been respected at all times. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Opposition MPs have accused him of misleading the House of Commons, which they say is against the Ministerial Code and constitutes an offense of resignation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Lord Hennessy said Mr Johnson’s decision not to step down showed “complete and utter contempt for the decency of our constitutional conventions”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    He also slammed ministers who defended his behavior on the airwaves and used the situation in Ukraine to argue there shouldn’t be a leadership contest now, saying they “cannot ignore the decency of your own system”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    He said: “The Queen’s First Minister is now undoubtedly a renegade Prime Minister unworthy of her, her Parliament, her people and her kingdom. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    “I can’t remember a day when I was more afraid for the well-being of the Constitution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cIt is an attack not only on the sanity that keeps our society open and clean, but also on the institutions of the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    “If he is not willing to do what is decent … why else should anyone behave decently and correctly? All the decency of our public life revolves around this question.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Lord Hennessy believes future Prime Ministers should sign an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution and that Boris Johnson “must have knowingly misled when he said the guidelines have been consistently followed”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Ways opposition parties have used to put political pressure on Mr Johnson include asking a parliamentary committee to conduct an inquiry or hold a vote in the House of Commons. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Green MP Caroline Lucas has written to Speaker Lindsay Hoyle asking him to start a trial to investigate both Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    It is putting pressure on parliamentary authorities to respond and on some Conservative Party backbenchers who have been hesitant about their leader’s behavior. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Boris Johnson’s fine for breaching lockdown rules is the “most serious constitutional crisis involving a prime minister,” one historian has said. Government history expert Lord Hennessy told the BBC Mr Johnson had “broke the law”, “misled Parliament” and “tore up the ministerial code”. Mr Johnson is the first sitting prime minister to be sanctioned for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nNo 10 parties: PM's lockdown fine constitutional crisis, says historian - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/04\/17\/no-10-parties-pms-lockdown-fine-constitutional-crisis-says-historian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No 10 parties: PM's lockdown fine constitutional crisis, says historian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Boris Johnson’s fine for breaching lockdown rules is the “most serious constitutional crisis involving a prime minister,” one historian has said. 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