Lauren Sanderson
Lord David Wolfson has become the first Conservative peer to resign in the wake of Tuesday’s Partygate revelations. Lord Wolfson announced today that he would be stepping down as justice minister, citing PM Boris Johnson’s breaches of criminal law as leaving him with “no option other than to tender my resignation”.
The senior barrister criticised the Prime Minister’s actions as “inconsistent with the rule of law”, in a letter addressed to Boris Johnson today.
He said that his decision to quit rested on both Johnson’s Covid rule-breaking actions and his conduct in the aftermath of the Partygate revelations: “It is not just a question of what happened in Downing Street, or your own conduct. It is also, and perhaps more so, the official response to what took place. As we obviously do not share that view of these matters, I must ask you to accept my resignation.”
My letter to the Prime Minister today. pic.twitter.com/lADCvKDKbB
— David Wolfson (@DXW_KC) April 13, 2022
The Tory minister said it would be inconsistent with law for Johnson’s conduct to “pass with constitutional impunity, especially when many in society complied with the rules at great personal cost, and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes apparently more trivial, offences”.
Wolfson also rebuked the PM’s failure to uphold the rule of law on the grounds that it undermined efforts to reform the justice system. He warned that to credibly defend democracy abroad, particularly at a time of war in Europe, British government officials must be seen to abide by national law.
Downing Street Partygate Revelations
Breaking news coverage yesterday confirmed that Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, and Johnson’s wife Carrie Johnson have been issued fixed-penalty notices after Scotland Yard’s investigation found they attended an illegal birthday party gathering in June 2020.
“Johnson is now facing questions concerning his leadership and calls for his resignation.”
The MET police have handed out a total of fifty fines as part of their inquiry into twelve events that allegedly broke lockdown rules. Boris Johnson is believed to have attended six of these events and faces further fixed-penalty notices if police conclude that other gatherings he attended are deemed to have breached Covid law.
He and Sunak have since apologised for their Partygate law breaches. Both Boris and Carrie Johnson received and paid their £50 fines on Tuesday. Yet Johnson is now facing questions concerning his leadership and calls for his resignation.
A number of cabinet ministers have publicly called for Johnson to step down from his role. The first was backbencher Nigel Mills, Tory MP for Amber Valley, who said on Wednesday that he no longer believes the PM can survive breaking the rules he put in place.
Mills has said publicly that he would submit a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
Responses to Lord Wolfson’s resignation
Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed has congratulated Wolfson “for taking a principled stand”. He further called upon Lord Chancellor Dominic Raab to condemn the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer’s actions, asking “What does this mean for the Lord Chancellor, Dominic Raab, who’s constitutionally charged with upholding the law but is instead condoning law-breaking?”.
Whilst David Wolfson is the first to resign over the Partygate controversy, he is not the first justice minister to quit under Johnson’s leadership. September 2020 saw the resignation of Lord Keen after the PM bid to potentially break international law by overriding parts of the Brexit deal.
More to come on this developing story
Featured image courtesy of Nick Kane via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Lauren Sanderson
Lauren is a freelance journalist, Editor In Chief at Empoword Journalism, and Journo Resources Fellow 2023/24. She is ex-Features Editor at Epigram. She has bylines in Journo Resources, Bristol 24/7, Epigram, and more.