PM: I'm Sorry I Will Do Better For Britain

Partygate probe: boris, rishi and carrie fined for birthday bash

- Sam Lister

BORIS Johnson has vowed to serve Britain better after he was fined for breaking Covid laws on his birthday.

The PM, his wife Carrie and Rishi Sunak paid £50 penalties over the No 10 party in June 2020 - but last night both Cabinet ministers signalled they would not resign.

Mr Johnson said it did not occur” to him that the nine minutes he spent at the bash for his 56th birthday broke lockdown rules.

But he apologised in the spirit of openness and humility” and added that he understood voters' anger after he fell short.

As the Opposition called for him to quit, the Prime Minister insisted that he wants to tackle the country's problems - and to help Ukraine drive out tyrant Vladimir Putin.

Mr Johnson - the first premier to have been found to have broken the law while in office - last night pledged to “do what is best for the country I serve”.

Speaking from his Chequers country residence, he said: “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 a right to expect better.

And now I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people: strengthening our economy; creating jobs and opportunity; levelling up across the whole of the United Kingdom; now, of course, ensuring that Putin fails in Ukraine and easing the burden on hardworking families caused by higher energy prices.

I will take that forward, that task, with due humility, but with maximum determination, to fulfil my duty, and do what is best for the country I serve.”