Katy Balls Katy Balls

Has Boris got away with it?

The PM is on much safer ground now than at the start of the year

Boris Johnson has had a surprisingly positive 24 hours since receiving a police fine. While not exactly positive, today’s front pages are far from a nightmare selection. A number of Tory-leaning papers call for a sense of perspective with the Daily Mail asking of the PM’s critics ‘don’t they know there’s a war on?’. 

On hearing the news that Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak had each received a fixed penalty notice, most Tory MPs came out to defend rather than attack the Prime Minister (see The Spectator’s updated list here). Notably, Roger Gale who had previously put in a no-confidence letter said that now was not the time to oust a Prime Minister and that he backed Johnson.

The whole saga may well run on further – and only when it ends will Sue Gray finally release her report

The vast majority of cabinet ministers have publicly backed Johnson too – with a high number managing to shoehorn in the phrase ‘just getting on with the job’.

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