Boris Johnson's justice minister becomes first person to resign after the prime minister was fined for lockdown-breaching parties

• Conservative peer Lord Wolfson has quit the government as a justice minister.
• His resignation follows Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak receiving fines for lockdown-breaching parties.

Conservative peer Lord David Wolfson has become the first minister of Boris Johnson's government to resign after the prime minister was handed a fine by the Metropolitan Police for attending lockdown-breaching parties in violation of coronavirus laws.

Wolfson, a barrister, quit his role in the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday afternoon. He was appointed by Johnson in December 2020.

Both Johnson and his most senior minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, received and paid fines Tuesday for their criminal breaches of the law. Johnson and Sunak were fined for attending a party to mark Johnson's birthday, one of 12 lockdown-breaching events in Downing Street and Whitehall investigated by the Metropolitan Police. The controversy is known as "partygate".

Johnson is the first sitting prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law.

Wolfson shared his resignation letter to Johnson on Twitter, blasting Johnson and the response of his government to the partygate allegations since they first emerged in December 2021.

In it, he said that the fines lead to the "inevitable conclusion that there was repeated rule-breaking, and breaches of the criminal law, in Downing Street."

"It is not just a question of what happened in Downing Street, or your own conduct," he added. "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."

Wolfson ended his letter by citing what he felt were his "ministerial and professional obligations to support and uphold the rule of law", which left him no option but to resign.