UK's Johnson did not break COVID laws 'with malice', minister says


FILE PHOTO: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attends a news briefing with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv, Ukraine April 9, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) - A senior British minister said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not set out to break COVID laws with malice and is mortified after he was fined by police for attending a gathering during lockdown, as calls mounted for Johnson to quit.

Johnson, his wife Carrie and finance minister Rishi Sunak were fined on Tuesday for breaching laws the government imposed to curb COVID-19, drawing a wave of condemnation, including from the families of those who died alone during the pandemic.

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