THE LEADER of the Opposition has said the latest revelation about partygate fines 'blows Boris Johnson's defence out the water'.
Sir Keir Starmer, who is in Glasgow today with Scottish Labour, told journalists the fact that 50 fines have now been issued over parties across Whitehall shows "widespread criminality".
His comments come after the Metropolitan Police confirmed this morning that they had issued more than 50 penalties in total with their investigations still ongoing.
Sir Keir said: "It's blown the Prime Minister's defence out the water.
"He claimed to the country that all the rules were being obeyed in Downing Street where he lives, where he works, that there'd been no parties.
"It's now clear that [there] was widespread criminality and I think this not only blows his defence but calls into further question his honesty, his integrity.
"I don't think he's any longer got the authority to govern. You can't ask the country to comply with very difficult Covid rules whilst you're breaking them in your own home and in your own workplace."
Although the Met has said it would not confirm who has received the fines, or for what events, it has been revealed by journalists that one of the events over which people were fined took place on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral.
No.10 staff held two separate leaving dos in Downing Street while the PM was away in Chequers, with the events later merging.
Reports of the event stated that a swing belonging to Mr Johnson's young son had been broken, and a staff member had gone to a local supermarket with a suitcase to collect alcohol.
The Prime Minister has also faced questions about his integrity and his statements in the Commons, after he told MPs in January that the rules were followed "at all times" and there had been no parties.
Further details then emerged of other gatherings, forcing Mr Johnson to acknowledge events had taken place.
However the PM has continued to try and distance himself from the events and from his knowledge of them, despite he himself attending some of the gatherings which are now under investigation by Scotland Yard/
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