Priti Patel has become the latest in a long line of Cabinet ministers who have backed Mr Johnson after he and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined for attending the rally in Downing Street during the lockdown.

Ms Patel confirmed through a Home Office source that she “fully supports” the Prime Minister after initially keeping quiet about the situation.

Here is a full list of how the Cabinet reacted to the fines.

“Quiet Drinks”

Meanwhile, a Tory MP has come under fire for suggesting nurses and teachers have ‘still drinks’ in the staff room during lockdown.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has written to the Education Secretary asking him to set the record straight, following comments from Michael Fabricator, Lichfield MP in Staffordshire.

He defended the Prime Minister in the face of the scandal, saying he did not believe Mr Johnson ‘thought he was breaking the law’.

Addressing the Telegraph, Mr. Fabricator said that since the interview he had been contacted by whistleblowers who said that “after a hard day, some staff from some schools have come together to relax”. Read his comments.

‘Callous and deaf’

Mr Johnson’s claim that he attended his birthday party during the Covid lockdown for ‘less than 10 minutes’ has been criticized as ‘insensitive and tone deaf’.

The Prime Minister’s insistence that the ‘brief gathering’ lasted only a few minutes has been criticized by bereaved families who were unable to spend time with loved ones while restrictions were in place.

Partygate fines split Telegraph readers, with the main topic of discussion being whether Mr Johnson should quit.

While many urge it to do so, others see “partygate” as meaningless when the country is facing national crises, including the war in Ukraine and the skyrocketing cost of living.

Read on to see what your other readers had to say.

Commentary and analysis

Around the world: Finland decides to join NATO

Finland will make a decision on its application to join NATO’s 30-member alliance within weeks despite a warning from the Kremlin, Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said. It comes as Emmanuel Macron dismissed Joe Biden’s description of “genocide” for Russia’s war in Ukraine because of “brotherly love” between Ukrainians and Russians. The French president’s remarks infuriated Ukrainians who called Mr Macron “deaf”, “shameful” and “arrogant”. Also today it emerged that Russian propagandists had created a fake video with BBC graphics to blame Ukraine for the Kramatorsk train station attack. On the front line, Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a prisoner swap involving Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine, who has reportedly been lined up by the Kremlin to replace the Ukrainian president.

Wednesday interview

“Putin could disappear tomorrow – and there is a realistic alternative”