Boris Johnson’s Partygate fine is more serious than a speeding ticket, Tory chair admits

Oliver Dowden slaps down Brandon Lewis, who was ridiculed for comparison – admitting No 10 rule-breaking was ‘very serious’

The Conservative party chair has admitted that Boris Johnson’s fine for attending an illegal party is more serious than a speeding ticket – after a cabinet minister suggested the offences were similar.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, was ridiculed for making the comparison, also wrongly claiming that Tony Blair was handed a parking ticket while in No 10.

Asked if it was right to compare breaching Covid rules to a speeding offence, Mr Dowden replied: “It is not a comparison I would make.”

“I take these allegations very seriously – and I don’t underestimate for a moment how angry and hurt people feel about it.”

The crisis engulfing Mr Johnson has deepened after he failed to block a Commons inquiry into whether he lied to MPs, when he wrongly told them no Covid rules were broken.

Top Conservatives are predicting that a post-local elections challenge to his leadership is now inevitable, as MPs contemplate no end to the controversy.

And one senior Tory, Steve Baker, has warned the Conservatives will “reap the whirlwind” of public anger over the parties at the ballot box on 5 May.

But Mr Dowden urged the public to focus on the “really good things he has done as prime minister”, when asked how long he could “survive” the onslaught of allegations.

They were the quick delivery of the Covid vaccine, the arming of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and Brexit, he argued – despite the big economic losses from leaving the EU.

“I do think it needs to be balanced against the very challenging times we face, the damage caused by instability and the uncertainty of changing leader at this time,” the chair said.

Mr Johnson is widely expected to face further police punishment for illegal gatherings, but Mr Dowden said: “I think it is quite a speculation to assume there will be more fines issued.”

He also said he did not think a no confidence vote in the prime minister was now inevitable and argued it would cause “instability” to change the nation’s leader.

Mr Dowden as also confronted over claims that Conservative MPs have accused Angela Rayner of deliberately distracting Mr Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs in the Commons.

Anger is growing over an extraordinary newspaper story that Tories liken the deputy Labour leader’s tactics to a fully-clothed equivalent of Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the film Basic Instinct.

It has been widely condemned as blatant sexism – while also reflecting badly on Mr Johnson himself, if he cannot focus when confronted with a woman’s legs.

Mr Dowden dismissed the claims, in The Mail on Sunday, while carefully stopping short of a denial that certain Conservatives may have made the allegation.

“This is a totally ludicrous story that I don’t recognise in any way at all,” the party chair told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.