Justice minister Lord David Wolfson has quit the government over partygate and launched a brutal attack on Boris Johnson.
The Conservative peer, the first minister to resign over the scandal, called out the “scale, context and nature” of breaches of Covid regulations in Downing Street, saying in a letter to the prime minister it was a matter of his “own conduct” as well as the actual events.
It comes after Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak paid fines relating to a birthday party held for the PM in the cabinet room in No 10 in June 2020.
However, neither indicated they would consider resigning over the finding by the Metropolitan Police, instead saying they wanted to get on with the job.
He wrote on Twitter: “The scale, context and nature of those breaches mean that it would be inconsistent with the rule of law for that conduct to pass with constitutional impunity.”
Lord Wolfson said the “repeated rule-breaking, and breaches of the criminal law” in No 10 had caused him to submit his resignation.
In the letter, he said: “Justice may often be a matter of courts and procedure, but the rule of law is something else – a constitutional principle which, at its root, means that everyone in a state, and indeed the state itself, is subject to the law.
“I regret that recent disclosures lead to the inevitable conclusion that there was repeated rule-breaking, and breaches of the criminal law, in Downing Street.
“I have – again, with considerable regret – come to the conclusion that the scale, context and nature of those breaches mean that it would be inconsistent with the rule of law for that 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.
“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.”
Labour’s shadow justice secretary Steve Reed questioned whether Lord Wolfson’s superior, Dominic Raab, should also step down.
He wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations to justice minister Lord Wolfson for taking a principled stand.
“But what does this mean for Lord Chancellor Dominic Raab who’s constitutionally charged with upholding the law but is instead condoning law-breaking.”
Raab described Lord Wolfson as a “world-class lawyer” whose “wisdom and intellect will be sorely missed” in government.
Johnson wrote to the peer saying he was “sorry to receive” the resignation, while praising his “years of legal experience”.
Also on Wednesday, Conservative MPs Nigel Mills and Craig Whittaker said the prime minister’s position was untenable after he was found to have broken the rules he set.
However, Johnson’s position was safe for the time being, with politicians away from parliament for the Easter recess and numerous Tory critics arguing for immediate focus to be on the invasion of Ukraine.
More than 50 fines have been referred to the Acro Criminal Records Office since the Met’s inquiry started.
Speaking to broadcasters at his country residence, Chequers, on Tuesday, Johnson said it “did not occur” to him at the time that the party for which he was fined might be breaching Covid rules.
Sunak offered an “unreserved apology”, saying he understood that “for figures in public office, the rules must be applied stringently in order to maintain public confidence”.