UK’s Johnson Rejects Calls to Resign amid ‘Partygate’ Fine

A protester holds up a placard of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside Downing Street in London, Britain, 13 April 2022. (EPA)
A protester holds up a placard of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside Downing Street in London, Britain, 13 April 2022. (EPA)
TT
20

UK’s Johnson Rejects Calls to Resign amid ‘Partygate’ Fine

A protester holds up a placard of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside Downing Street in London, Britain, 13 April 2022. (EPA)
A protester holds up a placard of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside Downing Street in London, Britain, 13 April 2022. (EPA)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government's pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine.

London police fined Johnson and other people Tuesday for attending a birthday party thrown for the prime minister at his Downing Street offices on June 19, 2020. The penalty made Johnson the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.

Gatherings of more than two people were banned in Britain at the time of the birthday party to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

"I understand the anger that many will feel that I, myself, fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public, and I accept in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better,” Johnson said late Tuesday. "And now I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people.”

The fine followed a police investigation and months of questions about lockdown-breaking parties at government offices, which Johnson had tried to bat away by saying there were no parties and that he believed no rules were broken.

Opposition lawmakers demanded Johnson’s resignation, arguing the fines given to him and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak were evidence of "criminality” at the heart of government. The opposition argued that the Downing Street gathering demonstrated that Johnson and his supporters believe the rules don’t apply to them.

While the "partygate” scandal poses a threat to Johnson’s government, the world has changed tremendously since the first reports of the parties surfaced late last year.

Johnson has been a leading figure in marshaling international opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Britain is facing its worst cost-of-living crisis since the 1950s.

His supporters are already arguing that whatever the prime minister may have done wrong, now is not time for a leadership contest.

That his Treasury chief also received an undermining fine helps Johnson since Sunak had been seen as the leading candidate to succeed Johnson.

But Johnson still faces the possibility of additional fines; he is reported to have attended three other gatherings that the Metropolitan Police Service is still investigating.

He will also have to answer questions about whether he knowingly misled Parliament with his previous statements about the parties, Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government in London, said.

"Governments have to realize that they can’t just make laws and then skirt around them and rationalize themselves that it’s all OK because they’re very important people working at the center of government,” Rutter said.



UK Targets Iranian Oil Magnate, Four Companies with Asset Freeze

The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/ File Photo
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/ File Photo
TT
20

UK Targets Iranian Oil Magnate, Four Companies with Asset Freeze

The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/ File Photo
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/ File Photo

Britain imposed sanctions on one individual and four entities on Thursday under its Iran sanctions regime, saying they are part of a network that supports Tehran's overseas activities, including "destabilization" in Ukraine and Israel.

The sanctions include an asset freeze on Iranian oil magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, and on four companies operating in the shipping, petrochemical and financial sectors, the foreign office said in a statement

Britain said Tehran relies on revenues from such trading networks to fund its "destabilising activities", including support for proxy groups and threats on UK soil, Reuters reported.

"Today, the UK is announcing sanctions against those who operate on behalf of Iran, fuelling its attempts to undermine stability in the Middle East and global security," Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, said.

The United States, which sanctioned Shamkhani last month, said he controls a vast network of container ships and tankers through a complex web of intermediaries that sell Iranian and Russian oil and other goods throughout the world.

Some of the companies sanctioned by Britain on Wednesday were cited for acting on behalf of or at the direction of Shamkhani, who is accused of aiding Iran's overseas operations. Shamkhani was also sanctioned by the European Union in July.

British lawmakers warned last month that Iran posed a growing and multifaceted threat to Britain, and while it does not yet rival the scale of challenges posed by Russia or China, they said the government was ill prepared to confront it.

They said the Iranian threat spanned physical attacks and potential assassinations targeting dissidents and Jewish communities, as well as espionage, offensive cyber operations, and efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran has rejected these claims, calling them "unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations".