'Humbled' Johnson takes responsibility for illegal parties

LONDON • A "humbled" Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he took full responsibility after a damning official report yesterday detailed a series of illegal alcohol-fuelled parties at his Downing Street office during coronavirus lockdowns.

The British Premier has faced repeated calls from opposition politicians and some in his own Conservative Party to resign after it was revealed that he and his officials had broken the rules that meant people could not socialise outside their households or even, in many cases, attend funerals for loved ones.

"I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch," Mr Johnson told Parliament.

The report by senior official Sue Gray did not specifically blame Mr Johnson, but gave graphic details and included photographs from more than a dozen gatherings, some of which he attended. Mr Johnson was among those fined over a party to celebrate his 56th birthday on June 19, 2020, though Ms Gray said he was unaware of the gathering in advance.

"Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen," the report said. "The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture."

Mr Johnson, who commissioned the report after revelations of boozy Downing Street events in 2020 and 2021 while social mixing was all but banned under laws his government had made to curb Covid-19, said he was appalled by some of the behaviour it had uncovered. "I... am humbled and I have learned a lesson," he told Parliament to jeers from the opposition benches.

Ms Gray's interim findings were published in January, but most of the details were withheld until the end of a separate police inquiry, which concluded last week with 126 fines handed out.

Her full report included e-mails and WhatsApp messages which showed that many of the gatherings were planned in advance, with discussions on who would bring alcohol.

At one June 2020 event, Ms Gray said there was "excessive alcohol consumption" that led to one person being sick and a fight between two others. At another, held the night before the funeral for Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip in April 2021, individuals partied into the early hours.

"Many will be dismayed that behaviour of this kind took place on this scale at the heart of government," her report said. "The public have a right to expect the very highest standards of behaviour in such places and clearly what happened fell well short of this."

For months, evidence of the alcohol-fuelled parties has dripped out into the media, forcing Mr Johnson to apologise, change the team at his office and promise a reset to try to restore his authority.

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was time for Mr Johnson to quit. The report laid bare "the rot that under this prime minister has spread... a government that believed that it was one rule for them and another rule for everyone else", he told Parliament.

Many Conservative lawmakers had been increasingly frustrated about having to defend their Prime Minister, but several said they would wait for the full report before deciding whether to demand Mr Johnson should quit. Some felt the report was not as damning as it could have been.

Mr Johnson had initially denied there had been any parties or rule-breaking at Downing Street, and some lawmakers say his position is untenable if he is found to have lied to Parliament, a matter now under investigation.

REUTERS