The PM is really lucky that it was the cake that got him his first FPN. Even though that's clearly people gathering specifically for a social reason, the fact it was so short, and people like Rishi Sunak were fined when they were there early for a meeting, it's a pretty low bar.Don't think this seems anywhere near as egregious as some of the flagrant rule breaking that happened at Downing St and committed by the people that actually made rules.
That said, if he has broken the rules and been dishonest about it, he will have to go and I for one will be thrilled to see the back him and hopefully see someone come in who dares to come up with some actual policies.
There's obvs some tit for tat at play from the Tories but if it does result in Starmer having to resign I think they will have shot themselves in the foot. If someone like Burnham was to take the reigns at this point they'd be up against someone who has a genuine shot at uniting the labour party and someone who people in the North can vaguely relate to at get behind. Meanwhile the prime minister's position will be even more untenable if leader of the opposition has stepped down for much less than what the PM has done.
It sounds likely that Boris will get multiple other FPNs, some potentially for events in his home with Carrie, which are much more serious breaches. If he'd got those more quickly, then the Starmer story would look more obviously like the clutching of straws that it undoubtedly is.
