Yahoo News Jacob Rees-Mogg: 'COVID rules were inhuman' as he refuses to apologise for Partygate
Watch: Jacob Rees-Mogg dismisses Partygate as 'fundamentally trivial' as fines are handed out
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said COVID-19 rules brought in by his own party were"inhuman", as he defended his dismissal of the Partygate saga as "trivial fluff".
The Brexit opportunities minister told LBC Radio that some coronavirus restrictions imposed were "simply unkind" and "should never have happened".
He made the comments amid the ongoing controversy over lockdown-busting parties held in 10 Downing Street and Whitehall during lockdown.
The Metropolitan Police have so far handed out 20 fines to people who partied while the rules were in place.
Boris Johnson has been forced to complete a questionnaire from the police asking him to defend his attendance at alleged parties.
Asked about Partygate during LBC's Call the Cabinet, Rees-Mogg - who was leader of the House of Commons during the pandemic - said: "Was it ever right to say that you weren't allowed to be with people as they were dying?
"I think it's so important that the inquiry which is about to take place looks into whether the restrictions put into place were proportionate.
"Actually I think, do you remember the picture from a funeral where an official came along and said a son couldn't be near his mum in a crematorium.
"This is something that should have never happened in my view. That that element of rule enforcement and an approach to rules was simply unkind and inhuman."
As a member of the Cabinet, Rees-Mogg voted in favour of bringing the COVID-19 rules which people in England were required to follow for almost two years.
The senior Tory also voted in favour of rules requiring proof of vaccination or negative test for large events.
Asked to apologise for describing the Partygate scandal as "fluff", Rees-Mogg said: "No, I am not going to do that.
"What I am going to do is try and contextualise. We have a war going on in Ukraine, we have atrocities being carried out, we have pictures coming through that show the enormous brutality of Putin's army.
"And what I was saying was in the context of what is going on, not just with Ukraine but also with the cost of living crisis, this is not the most important issue in the world.
"Having said that people should obviously obey the law."
He acknowledged that people were “undeniably cross” but insisted that Boris Johnson had not misled Parliament, suggesting the prime minister had been given “wrong information”.
“The prime minister said that he was told the rules were followed, but that turns out not to be correct and we know that fines have now been issued, but the prime minister can only work on the information he is given.”
Asked if he the PM thought the rules were "inhuman", a spokesperson for No 10 said: “I think at all times, the government took action to save lives and livelihoods. and that was always a balanced judgement… informed by the latest evidence we had”
Helen MacNamara, who used to be the deputy cabinet secretary, is said to be among the first group of people to receive a fixed-penalty notice (FPN) from Scotland Yard as part of its investigation into alleged lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
The Daily Telegraph reported that MacNamara received a £50 fine on Friday in connection with a leaving do held in the Cabinet Office on June 18 2020 to mark the departure of a private secretary.
Meanwhile, several reports suggest people have also received fines linked with a gathering that took place on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral last year. These FPNs were among the initial round of 20 issued by the Metropolitan Police.
MacNamara was the director general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office from 2018 to 2020 and left Government to work for the Premier League.
The purpose of the role was to ensure the highest standards of propriety, integrity and governance within government.
