Johnson has ‘no authority’ on Covid after partygate fines, say bereaved
A woman whose father died with coronavirus has said the Prime Minister has “no authority” on the subject of Covid after it was announced the first 20 fines will be issued over alleged lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
The Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that investigators will begin to refer the notices to the ACRO Criminal Records Office, which would be responsible for issuing the penalties.
Kathryn de Prudhoe’s father Tony Clay died with Covid in April 2020.
His desire to save his own skin means he’s willing to let more people become seriously ill and die. This isn’t leadership, it's self-preservation at all costs
Ms De Prudhoe, 47, told the PA news agency that Boris Johnson “simply must resign” and questioned his authority to lead the country out of the pandemic.
“His reputation on the national and global stage is already in tatters, and now Covid cases and hospitalisations are once again rising rapidly he has no authority to ask anyone to do the right things to get the situation back under control,” she said.
“His ‘living with Covid’ plan is reckless and failing but his desire to save his own skin means he’s willing to let more people become seriously ill and die.
“This isn’t leadership, it’s self-preservation at all costs.”
Ms De Prudhoe, a psychotherapist from Leeds, previously told PA her father was “a really fit, physically active man”, adding that his death was “a really devastating shock”.
The Met is investigating at least 12 events, including six the Prime Minister is thought to have attended, and Downing Street has said it will confirm if he is handed a fixed penalty notice (FPN).
No 10 has insisted Mr Johnson did not mislead MPs when he told them no lockdown rules had been broken in Downing Street, despite the Met concluding the law was breached.
Safiah Ngah’s father Zahari Ngah, 68, died with coronavirus in February 2021.
There's a real discrepancy between the way that the public viewed the pandemic and the way that the Government viewed it, and it really feels like they were just taking it as a bit of a joke
Ms Ngah, 29, from Islington, north London, told PA there was “a real discrepancy” between the way the public and the Government viewed the pandemic.
“It’s frustrating and quite painful to see all of this stuff in the news about how little the Government was taking the pandemic seriously,” she said.
“There’s just very little respect for real people in this country from the people that have the power.
“I think there’s a real discrepancy between the way that the public viewed the pandemic and the way that the Government viewed it, and it really feels like they were just taking it as a bit of a joke.”
Ms Ngah, a member of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said “the buck stops with Boris Johnson”.
She added “we gave up so much” during the pandemic, and gave her father’s funeral as an example.
“When we went to my dad’s funeral we had five people there,” she said.
“His grave looks like a war grave – it’s a mound of earth with a piece of wood sticking out with co-ordinates on it. And his name, handwritten.
“These small, or seemingly small, news stories about the Government disobeying rules – it makes all of that seem a lot more raw.”
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