Elaine McCallig
Apr 13, 2022
Al Jazeera
Former Tory MP Edwina Currie has said that she doesn’t care that Boris Johnson broke the rules as what matters are “the results we get from our politicians”.
Johnson made history yesterday by becoming the first prime minister to have broken the law (or perhaps - the first to get caught...) after being slapped with a fine over Downing Street lockdown parties.
His wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were also ordered to pay up after the Metropolitan Police issued fixed penalty notices.
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.\n\nShe says 'what matters to me is the results we get from our politicians.'pic.twitter.com/yE8aG8YjH7— Good Morning Britain (@Good Morning Britain) 1649830493
In the wake of renewed pleas for Sue Gray’s report to be published in full and amid fresh calls for Johnson’s resignation, Currie told Good Morning Britain: “I don’t care, I really don’t care.
“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.”
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She added: “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.”
Host Richard Madeley said he “admired her frankness” but questioned what that says about where we are today.
Currie isn’t the only Conservative to defend the prime minister following yesterday’s bombshell.
MP Michael Fabricant yesterday said he didn’t believe the prime minister would have thought he was breaking the law, and compared the alleged festivities to teachers and nurses having a “quiet drink” in a staff room after a “very very long shift”.
Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg - also defended him, and seemingly attempted to bat away criticism by stating that “there is a war on”.
Not all Tories are on Johnson’s side, however.
When asked if he thought Johnson’s position was untenable, backbench MP Nigel Mills said: “Yeah, I think for a prime minister in office to be given a fine and accept it and pay it for breaking the laws that he introduced… is just an impossible position.
“We have every right to expect higher standards of people making these laws… so the idea that he can survive having broken one and accepted he has broken [it], I just think is impossible.”
Both Johnson and Sunak apologised on Tuesday and confirmed they had paid the fines imposed by the Metropolitan Police.
But they resisted calls for their resignations – insisting they were keen to now get on with the job.
Hmph.
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