UK’s Johnson admits he paid a police fine for lockdown parties

UK Prime Minister Johnson says he paid a fine from police for attending a lockdown-breaching birthday party in his official residence, making him the first British leader to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.

“I have paid the fine and want to offer a full apology,” he says. “I understand the anger 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. I accept in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better.”

Downing Street says Johnson is being sanctioned for attending a “gathering of two or more people indoors in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street” on June 19, 2020. The event was a surprise birthday party for the prime minister.

Johnson says the gathering lasted “less than 10 minutes,” and “at that time, it did not occur to me this might have been a breach of the rules.”