Johnson says sorry but resists quit calls after 'partygate' fine

LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologised but defied calls to resign after being fined for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules by attending a gathering in his office to celebrate his birthday.

Mr Johnson said people had the right to expect better after he, his wife, and finance minister Rishi Sunak were fined for breaching laws that his government imposed to curb the coronavirus.

"It didn't occur to me that, as I say, that I was in breach of the rules. I now humbly accept that I was," Mr Johnson said on Tuesday. "I think the best thing I can do now... is focus on the job and that's what I'm going to do."

Police have been investigating 12 gatherings at Mr Johnson's Downing Street office and the Cabinet Office after an internal inquiry found his staff had enjoyed unauthorised alcohol-fuelled parties.

Mr Johnson said he was at some of the events, held when social mixing was all but banned, but he has always denied knowingly committing any wrongdoing.

Mr Sunak offered an "unreserved apology" for breaking the rules at the same birthday gathering, adding that he respected the decision and had paid the fine.

"I deeply regret the frustration and anger caused and I am sorry," he said in a statement.

The fines, three of more than 50 that the police said they would issue, related to a Downing Street gathering to mark Mr Johnson's 56th birthday on June 19, 2020, an event which Mr Johnson said lasted no more than 10 minutes.

"I understand the anger that many will feel that I, myself, fell short, when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public," he said in a televised interview from his country residence, Chequers.

Revelations about boozy Downing Street parties provoked resignation calls from lawmakers in his own Conservative Party earlier this year. But that pressure has abated with the war in Ukraine in which he has sought to play a leading role in the West's response.

Some of the gatherings took place when people could not attend funerals or say farewell to loved ones dying in hospital.

After the "partygate" events were reported late last year, Mr Johnson said there were no parties and that all rules were followed.

He later apologised to Parliament for attending one event, which he said he thought was work-related. He also apologised to Queen Elizabeth for another at which staff partied on the eve of her husband's funeral.

In June 2020, when Mr Johnson's birthday party took place, people from different households were not allowed to meet indoors and were asked to maintain a 2m distance from one another.

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak had dishonoured the sacrifices people had made during the pandemic as well as their own offices of state.

"This is the first time in the history of our country that a prime minister has been found to be in breach of the law, and then he lied repeatedly to the public about it," Mr Starmer said. "Britain deserves better, they have to go," he added.

A snap poll for Internet-based market research firm YouGov found 57 per cent of voters thought Mr Johnson should resign and 75 per cent believed he had knowingly lied. Another survey, by market research consultancy Savanta ComRes, showed 61 per cent saying he should quit.

The prime minister's immediate future will be determined by Conservative lawmakers, who can trigger a leadership challenge if 54 of the party's 360 parliamentary members demand a confidence vote.

Some of those who have previously called for his head said now is not the time.

"In the middle of war in Europe, when (Russia's President) Vladimir Putin is committing war crimes and the UK is Ukraine's biggest ally, as (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky said at the weekend, it wouldn't be right to remove the prime minister at this time," said Mr Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party.

Others warned that Mr Johnson's long-term position was still far from secure. "This is not the end of this matter," Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen said.

In Mr Johnson's favour is the lack of an obvious candidate to replace him. The fines cap a terrible week for Mr Sunak who had been considered a leading contender.

The chancellor was already facing serious questions about his family's finances and wealth, at a time when large tax rises have taken effect, and when he has been criticised for not doing enough to help Britons through the biggest cost-of-living squeeze since records began in 1956.

REUTERS