LONDON
\nBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government\u2019s pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine.
\nLondon police fined Johnson and other people Tuesday for attending a birthday party thrown for the prime minister at his Downing Street offices on June 19, 2020. The penalty made Johnson the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.
\nGatherings of more than two people were banned in Britain at the time of the birthday party to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
\n\u201cI understand the anger that many will feel that I, myself, fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public, and I accept in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better,\u201d Johnson said late Tuesday. \u201cAnd now I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people.\u201d
\nOpposition lawmakers demanded Johnson\u2019s resignation, arguing the fines given to him and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak were evidence of \u201ccriminality\u201d at the heart of government. The opposition argued that the Downing Street gathering demonstrated that Johnson and his supporters believe the rules don\u2019t apply to them.
\nWhile the \u201cpartygate\u201d scandal ooses a threat to Johnson\u2019s government, the world has changed tremendously since the first reports of the parties surfaced late last year.
\nJohnson has been a leading figure in marshaling international opposition to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and Britain is facing its worst cost-of-living crisis since the 1950s.
\nHis supporters are already arguing that whatever the prime minister may have done wrong, now is not time for a leadership contest.
\nThat his Treasury chief also received an undermining fine helps Johnson since Sunak had been seen as the leading candidate to succeed Johnson.
\nBut Johnson still faces the possibility of additional fines; he is reported to have attended three other gatherings that the Metropolitan Police Service is still investigating.
\nHe will also have to answer questions about whether he knowingly misled Parliament with his previous statements about the parties, Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government in London, said.
\n\u201cGovernments have to realize that they can\u2019t just make laws and then skirt around them and rationalize themselves that it\u2019s all OK because they\u2019re very important people working at the center of government,\u201d Rutter said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government\u2019s pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine. London police fined Johnson and other people Tuesday for attending a birthday party thrown for the prime minister at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n