Even Julia Hartley-Brewer thinks Boris Johnson should resign if he's fined

Radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer has said that if the prime minister is fined over partygate, his position will become “untenable”.

The Brexiteer is far from the first to make the remark, but it seems the outrage over the partygate scandal is one of those rare stories that unites those from across the political spectrum.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner used the same term - “untenable” - when speaking about Johnson’s position if he is fined for breaking lockdown rules.

The renewed chatter around Whitehall shindigs comes as the first 20 fines have been doled out by the Metropolitan Police.

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Speaking on Politics Live yesterday, Hartley-Brewer said: “I just think it’s quite wrong to say it was a mistake, they didn’t make mistakes.

“They didn’t accidentally stumble into bring your own booze parties or get wheelie bags for Whitehall from the local off-licence.

“Prime minister undoubtedly, he 100 per cent lied to parliament repeatedly about this and it used to be the case that our politicians, if they lied to parliament, had to resign.

“I think a lot of people making the point with Ukraine [that] we’ve moved on, well, we did actually change prime minister during the second world war so that’s not necessarily the issue.”

She continued: “A lot of the heat has gone out of this for a lot of people and certainly for a lot of backbench MPs.”

She went on to say that the government imposed rules on millions in the UK which “they knew were not necessary”.

“I really think that it’s untenable for the prime minister if he gets a fine to remain in office,” she said.

Speaking on her talkRADIO show, Hartley-Brewer said Johnson owes the public an apology and said she wants him to admit that lockdown rules were not “necessary”.

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