British Prime Minster Boris Johnson has apologised after admitting he attended a boozy shindig in the garden of Number 10 Downing Street during England’s first lockdown in 2020.
In the House of Commons, he addressed lawmakers and acknowledged the public outrage over the incident, but insisted he thought it was within the rules and only stayed for around 25 minutes.
“I believed implicitly that this was a work event,” he said.
“With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside, I should have found some other way to thank them, and I should have recognised that – even if it could have been said technically to fall within the guidance – there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer branded his account “ridiculous” and called on Johnson to resign.
“His defence ... that he didn’t realise he was at a party is so ridiculous that it’s actually offensive to the British public,” Starmer said.
“He’s finally been forced to admit what everyone knew – that when the whole country was locked down, he was hosting boozy parties in Downing Street.
"Is he now going to do the decent thing and resign?”
Johnson is battling for his political life after a wave of fury and disgust at the latest revelations about parties in Downing Street when England was living under Covid-19 restrictions.
A leaked email from the Prime Minister’s private secretary, published by British broadcaster ITV, showed Number 10 staff were invited to a bring your own booze garden party on May 20, 2020.
The gathering took place during the height of the pandemic as millions across the UK were cut off from family and friends, and even barred from visiting dying relatives in hospitals.
Johnson did not resign, but his fate is now in the hands of an independent inquiry.
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