Justice minister Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (David Wolfson QC) has handed in his resignation a day after it emerged that the prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer received fixed penalty notices in relation to a Downing Street gathering during lockdown.

In a letter to Boris Johnson, Lord Wolfson said: ‘I regret that recent disclosures lead to the inevitable conclusion that there was repeated rule-breaking, and breaches of the criminal law, in Downing Street.

'I have – again, with considerable regret – come to the conclusion that the scale, context and nature of those breaches mean that it would be inconsistent with the rule of law for that conduct to pass with constitutional impunity, especially when many in society complied with the rules at great personal cost, and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes apparently more trivial, offences.

‘It is not just a question of what happened in Downing Street, or your own conduct. It is also, and perhaps more so, the official response to what took place. As we obviously do not share that view of these matters, I must ask you to accept my resignation.’

Lord Wolfson, a barrister who specialises in commercial law, was appointed a justice minister in December 2020. He was responsible for all departmental business in the Lords, and led on several areas, including human rights, civil legal aid, and mediation and dispute resolution. His resignation has been widely praised by legal commentators:

Lord chancellor and justice secretary Dominic Raab tweeted his support for Johnson and Sunak on Tuesday:

Shortly after Lord Wolfson posted his resignation letter on Twitter, Raab tweeted:

This article is now closed for comment.