'Of course' public should be told if Carrie Johnson is fined for breaking lockdown, Starmer says

Carrie Johnson is alleged to have attended two events being investigated by police but it could remain secret if she receives a fine. Credit: PA

The public should "of course" be told if the prime minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, is fined for breaking coronavirus laws, Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Number 10 has only committed to revealing the identity of two people if they receive fixed penalty notices from police; Boris Johnson and the UK's top civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.

But Sir Keir, launching his party's local election campaign in Bury, told broadcasters: "If Carrie Johnson gets a fixed penalty notice, then of course it should be made public.

"My focus is on the prime minister because he is the one who sets the culture, he is the one who oversaw this criminality at his home and his office, he is the one that came to Parliament and said all rules were complied with, which is clearly not the case.

"So I do think Carrie Johnson should be named if she gets a penalty notice, but my focus is laser-like on the prime minister."

The Met Police is investigating at least 12 allegedly illegal gatherings held on government premises during the pandemic - two of which Ms Johnson is understood to have been at.

The force announced this week that the first 20 fines relating to the partygate investigation are set to be issued, indicating officers believe Covid rules were broken - but the PM is refusing to accept that's the case.

Starmer - 'Of course we should be told if Carrie is fined':

Which events are being investigated under the police partygate probe?

Two Cabinet ministers have now accepted the fines suggest laws had been broken but Mr Johnson has so far dodged the question, refusing to be drawn into the discussion until the investigation has finished.

The PM's spokesman said on Thursday that "the facts are not in dispute" after International Trade Secretary Anne Marie Trevelyan agreed with Justice Secretary Dominic Raab that rules had been breached.

But "given the prime minister's position, it is right that we do not comment in the middle of an investigation, we comment at the end of it", he said.

Asked what he meant by the PM's position, he added: "Clearly this is something that's been centred on both No 10 and the Cabinet Office in the main - and we've confirmed that the prime minister has received a questionnaire - but I think it was simply the prime minister's view that while there is an ongoing live investigation, it wouldn't be right for him to give his response at that point."

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The Metropolitan Police refused to say on Thursday whether the fixed penalty notices, which were referred to the ACRO Criminal Records Office to be doled out, had formally been issued.

However, it is not believed the prime minister is among those to receive a fine.

It is understood Mr Johnson attended at least six of the gatherings police are investigating.

His wife is thought to have attended one held on June 19, 2020, to celebrate the PM's birthday and one on November 13, 2020, which was held in couple's Downing Street flat after former top adviser Dominic Cummings quit Number 10.

Asked on Wednesday by MPs on the Commons Liaison Committee whether he was set to receive an FPN, the PM said: "I'm sure you would know if I were."

Labour has repeatedly said the PM should resign over the fines, because they contradict his claims that no rules were broken on Downing Street during the pandemic.

Under parliamentary convention, a minister who knowingly misleads the Commons should quit and if they inadvertently did so, they should correct the record at the earliest opportunity.

Mr Johnson has so far done neither and his Cabinet ministers do not believe he should resign.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, asked if it was a resigning matter for the PM, said: "I don't think it is actually, I think the prime minister has at all times outlined to Parliament, and outlined what he understood and believed to be the truth.

He told ITV's Peston programme: "That is exactly what he should be doing as a minister, let alone as prime minister, and I think he has done that."

He added: "I think he has at all times outlined to people both in the House and outside the House what he understood to be the true position, the reality, the truth of what happened.

"That's absolutely within the Ministerial Code."