Dominic Raab has insisted "ultimately individuals take responsibility" for "partygate" fines as Boris Johnson prepares for a difficult day of questioning in Westminster.

       The Metropolitan Police yesterday announced it was issuing a first wave of 20 fines for breaches of Covid-19 rules in Whitehall and Downing Street.

       Scotland Yard has said it will not be revealing the identities of the people fined but Number 10 has committed to disclosing if the Prime Minister receives a fixed penalty notice.

       Mr Raab this morning defended Mr Johnson's handling of the scandal as he said the PM had told the public "what he knew to the best of his ability" when he said on December 1 that "all guidance was followed completely in Number 10".

       While the Deputy Prime Minister said individuals must take responsibility if they are fined, he also insisted the PM "already said he takes responsibility and he apologised for the fact that things happened in Number 10 that shouldn’t have done".

       Mr Johnson will face MPs in the House of Commons for Prime Minister's Questions at noon and will then be grilled by the powerful Liaison Committee at 3pm.

       ？？Follow the latest updates below.

       The Conservative MP for Bridgend and Porthcawl Jamie Wallis has come out as trans on Twitter and stated that he was the victim of rape last September.

       In an emotional statement released at 2.50am this morning, Wallis said: "I'm trans. Or to be more accurate, I want to be. I've been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and I've felt this way since I was a very young child."

       Gender dysphoria is a term that describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.

       Wallis has yet to make a statement on which pronouns he wishes to use.

       Wallis went on to say that he was a victim of blackmail in April 2020 when an individual outed him to his father and "wanted ￡50,000 to keep quiet".

       You can read the full story here.

       The Prime Minister normally appears in front of the Liaison Committee a couple of times each year. Its members are all chairs of their own respective select committees.

       Today's evidence session will get underway at 3pm and it has been split broadly into two main sections: Ukraine and the cost of living.

       On Ukraine, the PM is due to face questions from Tories Julian Knight and Tom Tugendhat, and Labour MPs Clive Betts, Sarah Champion and Diana Johnson.

       On the cost of living, the questions are due to come from Tories Philip Dunne, Neil Parish, Mel Stride, the SNP's Pete Wishart and Labour's Stephen Timms.

       There is no formal section set aside for "partygate" questions but it appears likely that at least one MP could raise the issue.

       One of the "partygate" events being investigated by the Metropolitan Police is an alleged gathering in the 10 Downing Street flat on November 13, 2020.

       Number 10 has said that it will publicly disclose if Boris Johnson receives a fine. But Dominic Raab today suggested Downing Street will not divulge if Mr Johnson's wife, Carrie, is fined. The Justice Secretary said that Mrs Johnson is "not a minister or a politician".

       Speaking to the BBC's Mishal Husain, Mr Raab said: “The Metropolitan Police would not normally, they do not, and they have made it clear, publish the identities of people subject to fixed penalty notices.

       “Employers would not normally or necessarily know about it. That would apply in the BBC, a publicly funded organisation, just as it would across Government. I don’t think it is right to have double standards.”

       Ms Husain said that people at the BBC are not "rule-makers". Mr Raab hit back and said: “Sorry Mishal, this is where you are wrong, I’m afraid, because I don't think the wife of the Prime Minister is a rule-maker either.”

       Ukraine is seeking a binding commitment from countries like the UK and the US to come to its aid if it is attacked again in the future (you can read more on this here).

       But Dominic Raab was lukewarm on the idea this morning as he said: "Well, it would, I think, depend on what precisely was involved.

       “We have been very clear we are not going to engage Russia in direct military confrontation, Ukraine is not a NATO member…”

       Pushed on whether the UK could agree to such a security guarantee, the Deputy Prime Minister said: "I am not privy to all the detail of that. We will consider anything that President Zelensky says he needs very carefully.

       “But we are not going to, I think, replicate unilaterally the NATO commitments that apply to NATO members.”

       Downing Street yesterday would not acknowledge that the law had been broken in Number 10 after the Metropolitan Police announced it was issuing 20 fixed penalty notices in relation to "partygate".

       Dominic Raab has now acknowledged that individuals in Downing Street who receive fines in relation to lockdown parties broke the law.

       He told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: “Clearly there were breaches of the regulations. That is the only thing that could warrant the 20 fixed penalty notices. That must follow.”

       Dominic Raab has said he hopes a war crimes investigation launched by the International Criminal Court into events in Ukraine will act as a "deterrent".

       He stressed the importance of preserving battlefield evidence to aid the probe, which the UK has offered technical and financial support to.

       He told Sky News: “That also tells the commanders and Putin himself, everyone in between, that they are at serious risk of ending up in the dock of a court and behind bars if they engage in further war crimes or indeed for any other action that they have taken.”

       He added: "I think for any crime there should be accountability and I think that message needs to go out now.

       “What we hope is it will have a deterrent impact on those commanders that are at risk of facing illegal orders to engage in attacks which will harm civilians.”

       Away from "partygate", Dominic Raab has also been asked questions about the situation in Ukraine.

       Russia has said it is scaling back its military operations around the capital Kyiv, but the Deputy Prime Minister said the announcement should be treated with extreme caution.

       Asked how much faith the UK is putting in Russia's words, Mr Raab told Sky News: “Well, I don’t think a lot. We judge the Russian military machine by its actions, not just its words.

       “There is obviously some scepticism that it will regroup to attack again rather than seriously engage in diplomacy or anything of that nature.

       “Of course the door to diplomacy will always be left ajar but I don’t think you can trust what is coming out of the mouth of Putin’s war machine.”

       The Deputy Prime Minister was asked what the "partygate" scandal says about the culture in Number 10 during the coronavirus crisis.

       He said: “These things are deeply regrettable. I understand what you are saying. My experience, and I was in and out of Number 10, we have had this conversation before, was that, look, I am not going to excuse anything that happened that shouldn't have done, we have been very clear about that.

       “The punishments have already been meted out, some of them, of course, I accept that. My experience and just telling you honestly firsthand was the incredible pressure and hard work and dedication of the overwhelming majority of people working in Number 10.

       “I am always quite careful whilst engaging and embracing the accountability that is rightly taking place, it is not right to tar all the civil servants who worked so hard during this pandemic.”

       Dominic Raab was asked where the "buck stops" on "partygate" rule-breaking.

       He said: "Well the PM has already said. I mean ultimately individuals take responsibility, but the PM has already said he takes responsibility and he apologised for the fact that things happened in Number 10 that shouldn’t have done.

       “More than that he has overhauled the Number 10 operation.”

       'Partygate' questions have largely dominated Dominic Raab's morning broadcast round.

       The Justice Secretary was asked on Sky News about Boris Johnson's comment in the House of Commons on December 1 when the Prime Minister told MPs that "all guidance was followed completely in Number 10".

       Asked how that statement can be true, given that the Metropolitan Police has started issuing fines for breaches of Covid rules, Mr Raab said: “Well, I don’t know the full facts of the fixed penalty notices and the details of those individual cases.

       “But the Prime Minister was telling the House of Commons and the public what he knew to the best of his ability.

       “We obviously had all of the questions, the claims that were made, that is precisely why the Sue Gray inquiry was set up and that is why where there have been credible allegations they have gone to the police.”

       Good morning and welcome to today's politics live blog.

       We have a busy day ahead, with Boris Johnson in the House of Commons at noon for PMQs before he is then grilled by the Liaison Committee at 3pm.

       We will kick off with the key lines from Dominic Raab who is on the broadcast round for the Government.

       Need help?

       Visit our adblocking instructions page.