Helen MacNamara said she paid the fine imposed on her in connection with a retirement party held at the Cabinet Office on June 18, 2020 to mark the departure of a private secretary. In a statement, she said: “I’m sorry for the mistake I made. I have accepted and paid the penalty.” Read more: Everything you need to know about Met’s partygate research Ms MacNamara was the director general of government for decency and ethics from 2018 to 2020. She now works for the Premier League, where she is director of policy and corporate affairs. Last week, Metropolitan Police announced 20 fines in connection with an investigation into alleged parties that breached the lockdown on Downing Street and Whitehall in 2020 and 2021. Ms MacNamara was the first person to confirm that she had paid a fine in connection with the investigation. The Telegraph reported that the fine was for a “bad” karaoke party in which there was a quarrel under the influence of intoxication. The event was previously reported to have been attended by about 20 people, including – briefly – Sir Mark Sedwill, then Cabinet Secretary and Head of Public Service. It now appears that fines were imposed for that rally as well as for events on Downing Street the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April last year. Met Police itself does not name individuals who are subject to fines. But Downing Street said it would reveal whether Prime Minister or Cabinet Secretary Simon Keys was among them. The Prime Minister, as well as Chancellor Rishi Sunak, were among 100 people who were sent official legal questionnaires about the investigation. Welsh Secretary-General Simon Hart has rejected a proposal that Boris Johnson should resign if fined, telling Sky News “the world has come a long way”. Most of his constituents “want to apologize, but they do not want to resign,” Hart said. Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, meanwhile, refused to apologize for calling the partygate scandal “fluffy”, telling LBC it was “not the most important issue in the world”. Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said the general public had a “right to know” which senior Downing Street officials had been fined. “They take the audience for fools again,” he told reporters. Boris Johnson refused to admit that the “crime” took place on Downing Street despite the fines, although two cabinet ministers – Dominic Raab and Anne-Marie Trevelian – admitted that the laws had been violated.
