British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has apologized for attending a party when a curfew was first imposed in Britain aimed at curbing the spread of the corona virus in Britain.
He told members of the House of Commons that the incident at 10 Downing Street was “technically subject to the rules” but he needed to understand how it would be to the public.
Labor leader Sir Keer Storm said the prime minister should now resign over what he called “absurd” lies and excuses.
Johnson is also under pressure from lawmakers in his party over the May 2020 party.
He visited the recess chambers of parliament as MPs rallied to rally support for him.
Sending 54 of them to the 1922 Committee (the influential Conservative party that governs controversy over the leadership of one party) would be a major challenge for Johnson.
The House of Commons was quiet at the start of the PM’s question, and Johnson admitted to attending the event for 25 minutes, so he thanked the staff for their hard work before returning to his office.
“I quietly thought this event was work related,” he said.
But he added, “When it was over, I had to ask everyone to go inside.”
“I had to find another way to thank them, and I had to realize that – even if it was said that it would come within the guidance provided by technology – millions and millions of people would not see it,” he said.
The Prime Minister concluded his statement by apologizing to the House of Representatives and the people for not being able to see their loved ones at that time.
Opposition MPs called for Johnson to resign as prime minister, and lawmakers in his own party called for his resignation. The Prime Minister faced a total of eight calls for his resignation during the House of Commons question session.
Labor leader Sir Keer Stormer said: “The pitiful sight of a man deviating from the right path after months of disappointment.”
He added: “His defense … he did not realize that it was a party. It was so absurd that it was really hurting British citizens.”
“When the whole country is closed, he’s forced to finally admit to everyone that he’s been having drunken parties on Downing Street. Is he going to do the right thing now and leave?”
Johnson, for his part, said he understood the “anger” of the people who “made the greatest sacrifices during these epidemics” in the sense that “those on Downing Street did not follow those rules.”
He urged MPs to wait for the outcome of the investigation into Sue Gray (a top civil servant in the UK) who allegedly violated the Govt Lockdown rules on Downing Street, after which he said “results will be announced as soon as possible”. “.
He added: “I’m sorry for the way I handled this event I described. I’m bitterly sorry. I wish we had done things differently.”
BBC political editor Laura Cohensberg said she did not think Johnson’s comments would put an end to the issue.
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His confession may have given him some time, but he urges his clients to wait until the trial is over before he can make his decision.
Ian Blackford, chairman of the SNP group of MPs in the House of Commons, said that if Johnson was “not ashamed”, Tory members should “work to eliminate him”.
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Sir Ed Davy, also called on the prime minister to resign.
Sir Christopher Schup of the Conservative Party said he was “very relieved” that the Prime Minister had answered a “fundamental question” about whether he was in the party.
He told BBC Politics Live that the Prime Minister had “really been true” in his apology and “realized he had done something wrong.”
Anger escalated after witnesses said the prime minister and his wife were among about 30 people at a party in May 2020.
A further 379 deaths were reported from Govt-19 in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, as well as 120,821 new cases.
What are the rules for that Suspected of violating?
On 20 May 2020, the UK’s Special Government Guideline stated that public meetings in the workplace should be held only when necessary and that “employees should try to minimize all meetings and other meetings in the workplace”. They say “you need to reduce the number of people you spend time with in the work environment.”
The party violated these guidelines and had a number of legal restrictions.
At that time, people were not allowed to leave their homes (or stay outside their place of residence) without giving a valid reason, and this included work, i.e. it was impossible to work from home.
So, anyone who came to the party center could argue that this does not apply to the Prime Minister himself, even though he may have violated the law. Because the Prime Minister lives on Downing Street, he did not technically leave his house to attend the banquet.
The law also prohibits more than two people from meeting in public, whether they are members of the same family or meeting “for business purposes”. However, prosecutors said Downing Street was not a public place.
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