Why Boris Johnson should not resign over partygate

Afew weeks ago it seemed that the issue of Downing Street parties over lockdown had been usurped by a more serious matter: what to do about the invasion by a nuclear power of a neighbouring European state. But now partygate is back, fuelled by the news that the Metropolitan Police has issued 20 fixed penalty notices and may announce another tranche of fines at a later date.

Some of the heat has left the whole affair. Several of the letters written to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, demanding a Conservative leadership election were withdrawn at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has withdrawn his own call for the Prime Minister to resign. Nevertheless, partygate continues to present an acute difficulty for Boris Johnson. His survival in No. 10 is still open to question and a good many MPs want him gone.

Johnson and his ministers might try to argue that there are more important things going on in the world right now, and that the fines relate to minor breaking of rules which were anyway ignored by many millions of Britons at some point over the past two years. This line of reasoning is futile. If you pass laws outlawing ordinary human behaviour, prevent people from meeting friends and loved ones and forbid them even from attending the funerals of family members, you must expect outrage and anger when you fail to observe those laws yourself. After chasing so many others through the courts (including the homeless), it’s harder to ask for forgiveness on the grounds that the parties were a minor matter.