Boris Johnson to be fined for breaking Covid-19 lockdown regulations

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to be fined for breaching his own Covid-19 lockdown policies, after a police investigation into Downing Street parties have uncovered more than 50 offenders within the British government.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak will also be penalised, making the pair the first Minster and Chancellor to have broken the law while in office. Carrie Johnson, the Prime Minister's wife, is also set to receive a penalty notice, her spokesperson confirmed.

The fines come in relation to gatherings held at Downing Street over the course of the pandemic, likely including Johnson's cabinet-room birthday party in June of 2020 which Sunak attended.

In the wake of the news, calls for their resignations have echoed throughout opposition parties, along with assertions of dishonesty surrounding the country's Covid policies.

Scottish first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has joined the chorus of dissenters, stating: "Boris Johnson must resign. He broke the law and repeatedly lied to parliament about it. The basic values of integrity and decency - essential to the proper working of any parliamentary democracy - demand that he go. And he should take his out of touch chancellor with him."

Labour leader Kier Starmer reflected the sentiment. "Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public," he said. "The Conservatives are totally unfit to govern. Britain deserves better."

"This is further evidence that blows the PM’s defence out of the water. He told the country, he told parliament, that all the rules had been complied with in Downing Street, where he lives and works, and now it is obvious there was widespread criminality," Starmer continued.

Though the penalty is likely to be either £20 or £50, it is still unknown whether the Prime Minister will contest the fine. The notice comes after a Metropolitan Police Force investigation of 12 gatherings, ranging from in the Downing Street Garden, inside No 10 and within the Minster's residence at No 11 Downing Street. As of now, the Met has issued over 50 fixed penalty notices in relation to the investigation.

"These fines expose the shocking scale of the criminality in Boris Johnson's Number 10," commented Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey.

"The police have now completely shredded Johnson's claims that no laws were broken. He cannot be trusted and cannot continue as Prime Minister. No other leader in any other organisation would be allowed to continue after law-breaking on this scale. If Boris Johnson won't resign, Conservative MPs must show him the door."