FORMER Tory minister Edwina Currie has boasted “I really don’t care” that Boris Johnson was fined for breaking Covid laws set by his government, arguing what matters most is the “results we get from our politicians”.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, the former MP and media commentator completely dismissed the Prime Minister’s law breaking and hailed a recent by-election win for the Tories in her local area as an example of the “pretty good” results Johnson delivers.
On Tuesday night it emerged that the Prime Minister and Chancellor had both paid fines and apologised for attending Johnson’s birthday bash in Downing Street during Covid restrictions. Both men are facing calls to resign.
Johnson said it “did not occur” to him that the gathering in the Cabinet Room on June 19 2020 to mark his 56th birthday was a violation of coronavirus rules, but that he “now humbly accepts” he did breach Covid-19 laws.
Sunak, meanwhile, said: “I deeply regret the frustration and anger caused and I am sorry.”
Carrie Johnson, the Prime Minister’s wife, was also issued with a fine which has been paid.
Scotland Yard, according to a statement published by No 10, said Johnson had been fined because “on June 19 2020 at the Cabinet Room… between 1400 and 1500” he had been part of “a gathering of two or more people indoors”, which was banned at the time.
After hours of silence on the issue, Cabinet ministers and senior Tories lined up to offer their defence of the Prime Minister and insisted the matter was closed.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, who called for Johnson to resign over the issue in January before withdrawing that call last month, argued the war in Ukraine meant it was not the time to remove the PM.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross suggests calls for Boris Johnson to resign 'are helping Putin'
It was Lichfield Tory MP Michael Fabricant who offered one of the more bizarre defences of Johnson, saying it wasn’t as if “wild” parties were being held in Number 10.
“I think you’ve got to take it in context,” Fabricant said, “in the sense that I know that lots of people who were working long hours did at the end of the day have a quiet drink, whether you would call that a party is another matter, and that ranges not only from civil servants but to nurses and others, and nobody would begrudge them that …”
He went on: “The way it’s been characterised, you would think there were sort of, pole dancers.”
On Wednesday morning, former health minister Currie appeared on Good Morning Britain to offer up her defence of Johnson.
“I don’t care, I really don’t care,” she told viewers.
Edwina Currie tells @ranvir01 that she 'doesn't care' when asked about whether she thinks Boris Johnson should resign if he's found to have broken the ministerial code.
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) April 13, 2022
She says 'what matters to me is the results we get from our politicians.' pic.twitter.com/yE8aG8YjH7
“What matters for me and what matters for millions of people in this country is the results we get from our politicians. The results we get from Boris are pretty good.”
She continued: “Last week we had a by-election here in the High Peak and we took a seat from Labour which means we’ve taken control of the borough from Labour.
“Everybody had an opportunity to express their viewpoint. And what happened was we won the seat, we actually won it, that’s what’s happening.”
Presenter Richard Madeley was stunned by Currie’s reaction.
READ MORE: 'Fight for your right to party' song plays as BBC broadcasts from Downing Street
Meanwhile on Wednesday Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was on the media round offering support for Johnson.
Shapps said the Prime Minister did not “go out with malice” to break the rules.
When he was repeatedly asked if there were parties in Number 10, Shapps told BBC Radio 4: “Well … this is work for the police to do, and I’m not going to sort of second-guess or speculate – I wasn’t there myself, anyway.”
Shapps was then pressed about whether full responsibility could be accepted without acknowledging that parties took place, to which he said: “I’m not trying to obfuscate or get around that – it shouldn’t have happened. It was wrong.”
But he added: “I also believe that in the end, you judge somebody by their overall behaviour and actually on the big calls, he’s got a lot of those things right, including at the time when we were the first country in the world to distribute the vaccine, get out of the coronavirus, to grow the economy faster than everyone else and now with Ukraine to lead on the world stage with this Prime Minister.”
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