Boris Johnson has said he was “very, very surprised” to receive a fine for attending a lockdown-breaking gathering in Downing Street.

The prime minister, talking to Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts, was questioned on issues from partygate and Northern Ireland to nappies and his favourite book to read to his children.

Asked by a teacher why he did not lose his job for breaking lockdown rules, Mr Johnson said: “I apologise very much for what happened but just to remind her of what I did.

“I think if people look at the event in question it felt to me like a work event, I was there for a very short period of time in the cabinet office, at my desk, and I was very, very surprised and taken aback to get a fixed penalty notice.”

Following the release of the Sue Gray report last Wednesday, which revealed raucous lockdown-breaking parties in 2020 and 2021, Mr Johnson told parliament he took “full responsibility for everything that took place under my watch” and said the government were “humbled” and had “learned a lesson”.

Mr Johnson also told Mumsnet, the online forum for parents, he did not eat the cake he was given at the event he was fined for.

“If you’re talking satirically about that miserable event, whose picture appeared on the front pages, then no cake was consumed by me I can tell you, I can tell you that much,” he said.

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