UK Justice Minister resigns over Partygate revelations
The UK's Justice Minister says the behavior of Boris Johnson is "inconsistent with the rule of law".
Since being fined by police for breaking Covid rules, Boris Johnson now has to contend with his first ministerial resignation, as Justice Minister David Wolfson has resigned, saying the Prime Minister's actions were "inconsistent with the rule of law."
Wolfson said it would be wrong that Johnson's conduct passes with constitutional impunity "especially when many in society complied with the rules at great personal cost, and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes apparently more trivial, offences.”
The Tory minister added that he had “no option other than to tender my resignation”.
My letter to the Prime Minister today. pic.twitter.com/lADCvKDKbB
— David Wolfson (@DXWQC) April 13, 2022
The minister's resignation is expected to reignite questions regarding Johnson's premiership, just hours after Conservative MP Nigel Mills also publicly stated that he would submit a letter of no confidence in the British prime minister.
Johnson's Partygate scandal began to surface again in late March after the Metropolitan police's decision to fine 20 people from Downing Street over Covid lockdown breaches.
Sue Gray, the civil servant charged with writing a report on the Partygate scandal that rocked the United Kingdom and showed that London was not practicing what it preached during the lockdown, has been left in the dark on the matter of which parties in Downing Street have merited fines, though officials have started receiving fines of a low £50 for attending the illegal gatherings.
10 Downing Street refused to reveal any pictures taken by official No 10 photographers regarding the Partygate scandal. In response, the Labour party called on Boris Johnson on April 6 to "come clean and release these photos."
The Cabinet office, however, refused to confirm or deny whether or not there are any photographs of the events in the cabinet room, leaving parties, or any party in Johnson's flat. Under freedom of information laws, official pictures were requested.
Downing Street argued that revealing the photographs would affect and influence the investigation.