JOHNSON’S APOLOGY IN FULL

HERE is Boris Johnson’s apology to MPs, after being fined for breaking coronavirus rules. His comments formed part of a longer Commons statement, which also covered the war in Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said: “Let me begin, in all humility, by saying that on April 12 I received a fixed penalty notice relating to an event in Downing Street on June 19, 2020.

“I paid the fine immediately and I offered the British people a full apology, and I take this opportunity, on the first available sitting day, to repeat my wholehearted apology to the House.

“As soon as I received the notice I acknowledged the hurt and the anger, and I said that people had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister, and I repeat that again in the House now.

“Let me also say, not by way of mitigation or excuse but purely because it explains my previous words in this House, that it did not occur to me, then or subsequently, that a gathering in the Cabinet Room just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy, could amount to a breach of the rules.

“I repeat, that was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly.

“I respect the outcome of the police investigation, which is still under way, and I can only say that I will respect their decision-making and always take the appropriate steps and, as the House will know, I have already taken significant steps to change the way things work in No.10.

“And it is precisely because I know that so many people are angry and disappointed that I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people, and to respond in the best traditions of our country to Putin’s barbaric onslaught against Ukraine.”