A BRADFORD district MP says it is completely unacceptable and unjustifiable for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to have broken lockdown rules after he was fined.

Mr Johnson is the first sitting Prime Minister to be found to have broken the law, after it emerged he was hit with a partygate fine alongside wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

He apologised but refused to quit, prompting a mixed response from the public and the press.

Conservative Shipley MP Philip Davies says he stands by his opinion previously expressed in an email on the situation to one of his constituents.

In the email, obtained by the Telegraph & Argus, Mr Davies states: “Of course it is completely unacceptable for the Prime Minister to be judged by the police to have broken the lockdown laws that he imposed on the rest of us - laws that I opposed throughout - and it is unjustifiable.

“As I told the Prime Minister a while ago, socialists always end up being exposed as hypocrites and when he decided to govern as a socialist with the senseless and draconian state control lockdown laws he introduced it was inevitable that he and others in government would be exposed as being hypocrites.

“As I have made clear throughout, if and when I submit a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister my constituents will be the first to know. That remains the case.

“At all times my decisions will be based solely on what I assess to be in the best interests of my constituents and the country.”

 

Meanwhile, Labour Bradford West MP Naz Shah has called on both Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak to resign.

She tweeted: “Those that make the laws were breaking the laws.

“We must protect our democracy and the rule of law. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak both must now resign.”

Mr and Mrs Johnson and Mr Sunak apologised on Tuesday and confirmed they had paid fines imposed by the Metropolitan Police over a party held on June 19, 2020 to mark the Prime Minister's 56th birthday.

Speaking to broadcasters at Chequers, Mr Johnson said it "did not occur" to him that the gathering might be breaching Covid rules, while Mr Sunak said he understood that "for figures in public office, the rules must be applied stringently in order to maintain public confidence".

Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps defended the Prime Minister on Wednesday morning, saying he is "human" and did not knowingly break the law.