JOHNSON AVOIDS FURTHER FINES IN LOCKDOWN PROBE
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has escaped without further penalties in a long-simmering scandal that threatened his grip on power, as the Metropolitan Police announced Thursday they had ended an investigation into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.
The decision lifts much of the cloud that had hung over Johnson since the reports of illicit parties first erupted in November last year. With public anger over the issue rising, he had faced a potential leadership challenge from rebellious members of his Conservative Party. But that danger appears to have receded.
Police said they had imposed 126 fines, relating to eight social gatherings in and around Downing Street and Whitehall, several of which Johnson attended.
The spotlight has now swung to the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, who is under pressure for taking part in a beer-and-Indian-food gathering with members of his party during a lockdown. Police in Durham are investigating whether he breached the rules.
Starmer has said that if he is assessed a fine, he will step down as party leader — a move calculated to draw a contrast with Johnson, who vowed to stay in office, regardless of whether he was found to have broken the law.
Johnson had already paid one fine for taking part in a rule-breaking office birthday celebration for him.
But the damaging effect of that was mitigated because police also fined one of his internal rivals — Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak — for attending the same party.