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Boris Johnson wanted “bigger fines” for Covid rule breakers as he unwound the first lockdown in August 2020 – just weeks after his own rule-breaking birthday party inside Downing Street.
The Covid inquiry heard how the former prime minister pushed for tougher enforcement and harsher penalties as the UK opened up again at the end of the pandemic’s first summer.
Mr Johnson eventually received a fixed-penalty notice from the Metropolitan Police for attending his birthday bash in June 2020, after the Partygate scandal revealed illegal gatherings at No 10.
On 15 August 2020, Mr Johnson had written to his private secretary: “I agree with these openings, but the OVERRIDING MESSAGE should be about tougher enforcement and BIGGER FINES.”
Lead counsel to the inquiry Hugo Keith KC asked former home secretary Priti Patel to put aside the “crushing irony” of Mr Johnson’s note, as he asked her about enforcement measures.
Dame Priti admitted to the inquiry that confusing and complex Covid laws were difficult to understand for both the police and the public.
Ms Patel also suggested fines of £10,000 were too high, and conceded that there was a view within the Home Office that restrictions on outside gatherings were “unenforceable”.
Asked if there was also a view within the Home Office that such rules were “practically unenforceable”, Ms Patel said: “Within the Home Office, yes.”
Asked by Covid inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith KC if she accepted that there was a “high degree of confusion” about the rules – both in following them and enforcing them – the ex-home secretary said: “I would agree, I would completely agree.”
Ms Patel, asked if the flat fine of £10,000 for those caught breaking lockdown rules as restrictions were lifted in August 2020 was proportionate, said: “No.” She added that it was “very high”.
Former home secretary Priti Patel at the Covid-19 Inquiry
(PA Media)
The senior Conservative told the inquiry on Thursday that then-health secretary Matt Hancock’s department was entirely behind drawing up the legislation for Covid regulations.
Former police leader Martin Hewitt was scathing of the laws, citing a time he had to delay enforcement after receiving them just 16 minutes before they were meant to be in place.
Dame Priti said drawing up the regulations was “solely the domain” of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which she hit out at for “inflexibility”.
“We were there to actually explain potentially what would work and what wouldn’t work – and there was a lot that didn’t work,” she added.
The senior Tory also criticised the “totally inappropriate” policing of the vigil after the murder of Sarah Everard.
Dame Priti said she had to raise the policing of the vigil to remember Ms Everard when there were clashes with protesters with then-Met Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick.
“I saw the news that night and just felt that that was totally inappropriate policing,” Dame Priti said.
Boris Johnson with Priti Patel
(PA Archive)
The Met was criticised for its heavy handling of the later stages of the vigil, with outrage that some women were bundled to the ground, and its “tone-deaf” reaction to the negative reaction in the aftermath.
However, Ms Patel said it was vital to respect the “operational independence” of the police when trying to make sure Covid regulations were enforced – in an apparent dig at her successor Suella Braverman over the Palestine rally controversy.
The ex-home secretary told the Covid inquiry: “Throughout the pandemic I felt that I spent a great deal of time reminding my colleagues of the [independent] role of policing.”
She said it was vital “that we as politicians are not there to dictate directly to the police as to when to arrest people and enforce the law”.
Meanwhile, messages show Mr Johnson felt he could not criticise police following the Sarah Everard vigil because it appeared to be simply “argy bargy”.
In messages from March 2021, the then PM said: “Feels odd to weigh in as PM and bash the cops when all I have seen is footage of some argy bargy without knowing what happened.”
Two women who were arrested at a vigil for Sarah Everard later secured pay outs from the Metropolitan Police for being detained amid ongoing Covid restrictions.
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