It had been a few weeks since Boris Johnson found himself being grilled on those lockdown-busting parties.
Ukraine has totally dominated Westminster for the past month.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer renewed his attack on the issue, accusing Johnson of misleading MPs by previously saying no rules had been broken.
He asked why “was he still here?” - given the ministerial code states ministers should resign if they mislead the House of Commons.
Johnson hit back saying it was important that the police were allowed to get on with their job and that in the meantime the government would be getting on with theirs.
Beyond that the Prime Minister just didn’t want to engage - preferring to shift the focus back on to the UK’s support for Ukraine, sanctions on Russia and those with links to Vladimir Putin.
But No10’s position on the Met fines - refusing to admit the first batch of fixed penalty notices represents a breach of the law - has appeared to place Downing Street at odds with the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, who said on Wednesday morning that the fines did mean the law had been breached.
The pressure on the PM has subsided in recent weeks. Tory MPs who previously called for him to go have backtracked sensing it would not play well with the public to have a bitter leadership battle while war is raging in Europe.
But the issue hasn’t gone away and with the Met set to issue more fines - perhaps against Mr Johnson himself - the PM is not yet out of trouble on this one.
