Downing Street has pledged to reveal if Boris Johnson is fined by police for attending any parties while Covid restrictions were in force, but the prime minister refused to rule out staying on even he is found to have broken the law. It comes after Scotland Yard announced officers were sending a questionnaire to more than 50 people believed to have attended social events in Downing Street and Whitehall despite the curbs on gatherings. Johnson has managed to so far avoid a wave of anger among his own MPs reaching the threshold at which a no-confidence vote is called, but some backbenchers are still waiting for the outcome of the Met’s inquiry to decide whether to try to oust him. There are 54 letters of no confidence needed for a ballot to be triggered, but Johnson’s opponents want to ensure that they would then win the subsequent vote by getting 181 colleagues to vote against him. With the Commons about to go into recess for 10 days, Johnson’s spokesperson said on Thursday that he had not yet received an official communication from Scotland Yard. Asked if Downing Street would say if Johnson got a £100 fixed penalty notice, he confirmed: “We would look to confirm contact of this as relates to the prime minister given the significant public interest.” Pressed on whether Johnson considered deliberately misleading parliament to be a resigning matter, the spokesperson said: “That is an element of the ministerial code and the prime minister fully supports that.” Johnson himself refused to say whether he would resign as prime minister if he was fined by the police for breaking the law. Speaking at a press conference during a trip to Nato headquarters in Brussels, Johnson said the Met police probe “must be completed and I’m looking forward to it being completed and that’s the time to say more on that”. Asked again if he would quit or try to stay on, the prime minister repeated: “I understand, but we’re going to wait for the process to be completed.” Despite some MPs’ concerns Scotland Yard’s inquiry could drag on, the Met commissioner, Cressida Dick, confirmed questionnaires were being sent out to people believed to have been at some of the dozen events under investigation.
“Some but probably not all may very well end up with a fixed penalty notice,” she told BBC Radio London. Dick added many people had been left “hugely disgusted” by reports of the parties, and suggested part of the investigation – known as Operation Hillman – involved speaking to officers who were on duty in Downing Street at the time. “It would be quite wrong for me to comment on whether anyone who works for the Met did or did not know what you describe as what’s going on, because that is part of the investigation,” she said. The Guardian revealed last week that civil servants who had given evidence to the official civil service inquiry run by Sue Gray were told the government may never know who was fined for attending parties across Whitehall in breach of Covid rules. Johnson was defended by his attorney general, Suella Braverman, in the Commons on Monday. Asked by Labour MP Rupa Huq if breaches of the ministerial code would lead to resignations, Braverman said: “I would just say that fundamental to the rule of law is also democracy. And I’m very proud to be supporting this prime minister – a prime minister who has honoured democracy by delivering Brexit.”