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The idea that Boris Johnson can survive as British prime minister after receiving a fixed penalty notice for attending a birthday party in breach of Covid rules is “just impossible”, a Conservative MP has said.
Nigel Mills is thought to be the first Tory backbencher to call for Mr Johnson to fall on his sword since the prime minister and chancellor Rishi Sunak were hit with criminal sanctions for attending a gathering in the Downing Street cabinet room in June 2020.
The MP for Amber Valley said “we have every right to expect higher standards of people making these laws”.
Both Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak apologised on Tuesday and confirmed they had paid the fines imposed by the Metropolitan Police. But they resisted calls for their resignations – insisting they were keen to now get on with the job.
Asked if he thought Mr Johnson’s position was untenable, Mr Mills said: “Yeah, I think for a prime minister in office to be given a fine and accept it and pay it for breaking the laws that he introduced ... is just an impossible position.
“We have every right to expect higher standards of people making these laws ... so the idea that he can survive having broken one and accepted he has broken [it], I just think is impossible.”
On whether parliament should be recalled to enable a change of leadership as soon as possible, Mr Mills conceded “it would be almost impossible to recall parliament before Tuesday, when we’re back anyway”.
He added: “There’s almost zero chance that a motion of confidence in the House of Commons would be lost.”
Transport secretary Grant Shapps defended Mr Johnson on Wednesday morning, saying he was “human” and did not knowingly break the law. Asked on Sky News how Mr Johnson can “possibly remain in office”, Mr Shapps said: “Everyone is human, people sometimes make mistakes.”
On whether Mr Johnson misled parliament, Mr Shapps told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme: “I don’t think he knowingly broke the laws when he came to parliament. We now know that the Metropolitan Police have said that he shouldn’t have stepped into the cabinet room when staff had organised a surprise.
“I don’t think he came to parliament thinking that that breached the rules.”
For the time being, Mr Mills’s comments come in stark contrast to the ones made by many other Tory MPs, who have shown their support for Mr Johnson on social media, with cabinet ministers praising his leadership during Covid and Brexit and pointing to the war in Ukraine.
Conservative former cabinet minister Lord David Frost told LBC he did not think a fixed penalty notice was “in itself grounds for resignation”.
However, he added: “I think it’s very important in our constitutional system that correct information is given to parliament, so I hope the prime minister comes to the House on Tuesday and makes it clear what the actual position is.”
Meanwhile, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP have continued to back calls for the Commons to be recalled from its two-week Easter break to allow the prime minister to “tender his resignation” in person to MPs. – PA