Megan Geall
Boris Johnson addressed MPs and apologised for breaking his own lockdown rules in the ‘Partygate’ scandal. Back after the Easter weekend break, Boris spoke in front of MPs for the first time since he was fined by the police for his lockdown breaches.
“People had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister”
Johnson claimed that he did not knowingly break his own lockdown rules by attending his birthday gathering at his Downing Street address. In his speech, Johnson acknowledged the public’s hurt and anger over ‘Partygate’, offering the public and the house “a full apology”. “People had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister”, admits Johnson.
Johnson stated that it did not occur to him that his gathering was in breach of his own lockdown rules, suggesting that this claim was “not by way of mitigation or excuse”. Following on from this, Johnson said he would support the Police in their investigation and accept their findings accordingly.
“Precisely because I know that so many people are angry and disappointed,” continued Johnson, “that I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people and to respond in the best traditions of our country to Putin’s barbaric onslaught against Ukraine.”
This ending statement concluded Johnson’s apology as he directed the attentions of the House onto the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the UK cost of living crisis.
Watch Johnson’s statement here.
Opposition parties have accused the Prime Minister of lying to Parliament as he suggested originally that he broke no lockdown rules at all. The Labour Party have requested a vote in Parliament on whether the Commons Committee should begin an investigation into whether Boris has misled Parliament throughout the scandal.
“dishonest, incapable of changing…”
In response to Johnson’s apology, Opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer, called the PM’s apology “mealy mouthed”, before claiming the PM “is dishonest, incapable of changing and drags everyone else down with him”. The Speaker requested Starmer to withdraw his description of the PM as “dishonest”.
Conservative MPs must “put their country first, put their conscience first […] and remove the Prime Minister from office.”
Throughout Johnson’s statement to the House, he was faced with calls from MPs to “resign”, with Starmer also urging Conservative MPs to “put their country first, put their conscience first […] and remove the Prime Minister from office.” This plea to Conservative MPs was backed up by the SNP Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, who said MPs needed to “grow a spine” and remove Johnson as leader.
The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has accepted Labour’s request for the vote, adding he had decided there was an “arguable case to be examined”. The vote is scheduled for Thursday when Boris is in India. This means he will not be present to defend himself on record, with media attention expected to be on his trip to India instead—this could only be a positive for the Government.
It is expected that Johnson and the Government will win this vote, meaning that he will not be referred to the Commons Committee. However, it will be interesting to see how many, and which, Conservative MPs abstain from voting as this will give the public a clue into the party’s own confidence in Johnson.
Featured image courtesy of Paul Silvan on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
Megan Geall
Megan is a 23-year-old recent English and American Literature graduate and aspiring journalist. Her interests include food, fitness, lifestyle writing and dance!