Boris Johnson could add to his record of minor criminal misdemeanours after being filmed inside a moving car while apparently not wearing a seatbelt, an offence for which Rishi Sunak was fined in January. The 42-second clip, recorded for a local Tory group, sees Johnson in the back of a moving car, urging people in Derbyshire to vote in Thursday’s local elections. Johnson says to the camera: “Hi folks, this is Boris Johnson appealing to all Derbyshire Conservatives to get out tomorrow.” He appears to be not wearing a seatbelt. The message seemed to have been initially shared on Twitter by the Derby North MP Amanda Solloway, but her version has since been deleted. The Liberal Democrats have urged police to investigate, although one complication is determining where the clip was filmed. Derbyshire police said there was “no information” to suggest Johnson was in the county at the time.
In January, Sunak became the second sitting prime minister in history, after Johnson, to be fined while in office, after he filmed a social media clip while travelling in the back of a car without a seatbelt. Lancashire constabulary said “a 42-year-old man from London” had been given the option of a fixed-penalty notice for the offence, which followed a trip to Blackpool by the prime minister. Downing Street said Sunak had accepted the fault and paid. When he was prime minister, Johnson was fined for attending what police determined was a lockdown-breaching gathering for his birthday inside No 10 in June 2020. Sunak, the chancellor at the time, was also fined for attending the same event. Christine Jardine, the Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson, said: “This looks like yet another high-level Conservative ignoring the law by not wearing his seatbelt. If confirmed, this would be just further proof that Johnson and Sunak are cut from the same cloth.” Johnson’s spokesperson has not commented. The former prime minister was not otherwise a visible presence in the Conservatives’ local election campaign, which appears to have gone badly for Sunak and his government – with some blame placed on Johnson, as well as Liz Truss, and their chaotic period in office. The transport minister, Huw Merriman, told the BBC’s Elections 2023 programme: “When I was talking to my constituents on the doorsteps yesterday, they were talking about older news about former prime ministers, but saying: your current leader seems to have what it takes.”