Tory MP called out for downplaying PM's Covid fines by comparing them to speeding offences

Tory MP Brandon Lewis has been called out for denying compared speeding fines to sacrifices made during the coronavirus pandemic, despite saying it only seconds beforehand.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was appearing on the Today programme on Radio 4 when he was questioned over his comments by host Mishal Husain.

Lewis was speaking hours before Johnson was set to face MPs for the first time since the police fined him for breaking his own Covid rules.

While discussing the FPN handed out by police, Lewis began by talking about MPs previously fined for speeding.

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“We’ve seen reports of Ministers both from the Labour party and from the Conservative party over the years, whether it’s been speeding fines and things like that…” he said.

“While they were in office?” Husain asked.

“Well, I believe so, but I’m just going on the reports I’ve seen on the weekend,” Lewis replied.

When asked to clarify his comments, he added: “If someone gets a speeding ticket... I'm not in any way trying to equate speeding fines that people have had with the sacrifices people have made through Covid.”

“Well you’ve actually literally just done that,” Husain hit back.

He added: “I’m saying a minister or a parliamentarian getting a fixed penalty notice, accepting that, acknowledging that and apologising for that is the right way to handle it. That is what the prime minister has done. That does not distract from the reality of what he said to parliament was correct. He believed it to be correct at the time.”

Brandon Lewis has served as MP for Great Yarmouth since 2010Leon Neal/Getty Images

It comes after Lewis stated that Johnson was saying “what he believed to be the truth” when he denied there were any law-breaking No 10 parties – despite attending at least one of them.

The Northern Ireland Secretary also hinted that Johnson will accept the police’s verdict only grudgingly during his appearance in front of MPs later, referring to the Met having “taken the view that a fine should be issued”.

He also insisted it is perfectly possible for a “lawmaker to be a lawbreaker”, because Tony Blair is among ministers issued with parking tickets in the past.

Lewis told Sky News: “When he spoke to parliament, he was speaking what he believed to be the truth and what he outlined to be the truth.”

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