No. 10 said it would reveal whether the prime minister or cabinet secretary, Simon Case, had received fines, but suggested that other people not be named. The Metropolitan Police announced this week that they will issue 20 warnings with fixed sentences as a result of their investigation into 12 rallies held on Downing Street while Covid restrictions were in place. One was a party allegedly organized by Carrie Johnson in Downing Street and the other was a birthday party for the prime minister, organized by his wife, at which Johnson’s colleague Conor Burns later claimed that ” fell into a cake ambush “. Starmer told television stations on Thursday: “If Carrie Johnson receives a fixed penalty notice, then of course she should be made public. “My focus is on the prime minister because he is the one who defines the culture, he is the one who oversaw this crime at home and in his office, he is the one who came to parliament and said that all the rules were followed, which obviously do not apply.” It is understood that not even officials of the Cabinet Office know how many additional fines the police may consider or how long the investigation may take. Also, they are not expected to be informed by the police with which concentrations the fines are related. It is possible that as a result the full report on the allegations of the illegal parties drawn up by senior civil servant Sue Gray will not be published for a few weeks. The Met will inform officials when the force has issued the latest fines, after which the report will be updated before it is published. If few people dispute their sentencing notices, the report could be published before the process is completed to avoid further delays, but to remove any references to their actions. Johnson appeared to clash with the Justice Department on Wednesday, with Dominic Raab saying the 20 sentences showed “clear violations of the rules”, while the prime minister continued to insist he could not give a “permanent comment” to research. Asked about the dispute, Johnson’s spokesman said that while “the facts are not in dispute”, due to the prime minister’s immediate involvement in the process, it was considered inappropriate to comment before the police investigation was completed. He said: “Clearly this is something that focused on both No. 10 and the Council of Ministers in particular – and we confirmed that the Prime Minister received a questionnaire – but I think it was just the Prime Minister’s view that while there is a lively investigation it was right to give his answer at that point. “ Starmer was speaking as he launched the Labor campaign for the May 5 local elections in Buri, in which the party will focus on the cost-of-living crisis. The Labor leader told activists: “We have exactly five weeks to send a message to Boris Johnson and his Tories that they can not ignore. “A message that Britain deserves better than its pathetic, miserable response to the cost of living crisis.” He said the public was facing “prices through the roof, salaries from the floor”, but the government’s response was “to get more than it gives”. Labor hopes to show in the election that they have made progress, although the last time most of the kidnapping seats were claimed, in 2018, the party performed relatively well.
