The government’s former ethics chief has apologised for an “error of judgement” after being fined by the Met Police for going to a lockdown-breaking party in Westminster.
Helen MacNamara said she has paid the fine she was handed in connection with a leaving party held in the Cabinet Office on June 18 2020 to mark the departure of a private secretary.
She said in a statement: “I am sorry for the error of judgement I have shown. I have accepted and paid the fixed penalty notice.”
Read more:
All you need to know about the Met’s partygate investigation
Ms MacNamara was the government’s director general for propriety and ethics from 2018 to 2020. She now works for the Premier League where she is director of policy and corporate affairs.
Last week the Metropolitan Police announced 20 fines in relation to an investigation into alleged lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall in 2020 and 2021.
Ms MacNamara is the first person to confirm they have paid a penalty in relation to the investigation.
The Telegraph reported that the fine was in relation to a “raucous” karaoke party at which there was a drunken brawl.
The event has previously been reported to have been attended by about 20 people including – briefly – Sir Mark Sedwill, then cabinet secretary and head of the civil service.
Fines are now understood to have been issued for that gathering as well as events in Downing Street on the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April last year.
The Met Police itself is not naming individuals subject to fines.
But Downing Street has said that it will reveal if the prime minister, or cabinet secretary Simon Case, are among them.
The PM, as well as chancellor Rishi Sunak, were among 100 individuals who were sent formal legal questionnaires related to the investigation.
Welsh secretary Simon Hart has brushed off the suggestion that Boris Johnson ought to resign if he is fined, telling Sky News “the world has moved on a considerable…
Source : skynews
