"Partygate": Boris Johnson apologizes without convincing the opposition

Anais Cordoba, with AFP 7:32 pm, January 12, 2022

Cornered, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged Wednesday before MPs his presence at a party in Downing Street in full confinement in 2020 and presented his "apologies", without convincing the opposition which demands his resignation. In the hot seat after a series of overwhelming scandals, this 57-year-old conservative with long-stainless popularity has had his most difficult weekly parliamentary questioning session since his triumphant arrival to power in July 2019, as the savior of a Brexit in the 'dead end.

The event in question, on May 20, 2020 in the gardens of his official residence, took place at a traumatic time for the British. In the midst of the first wave of Covid-19, only two people were allowed to be outside and many of them were unable to say goodbye to their dying loved ones. In an overheated House of Commons, Boris Johnson maintained that he then estimated that the evening, to which a hundred people would have been invited with instructions to bring a drink, was a work meeting.

He conceded that he should have concluded that if the event could "technically" be considered to be within the rules, the perception of "millions" of Britons could be quite different.

"I apologize from the bottom of my heart," he said.

Boris Johnson claimed to take "responsibility" for the "mistakes" that were made, explaining in a carefully weighed intervention that he made a 25-minute appearance that evening in the garden, which he described as an "office extension" then "constantly" used given the virtues of the great outdoors against the virus.

Towards a vote of no confidence? 

Accusing the Prime Minister of lies, Labor opposition leader Keir Starmer has deemed his defense "so ridiculous" that it is "insulting" to his compatriots. The "only question" is, according to the Labor chief, whether the British or his party will "kick him out". Or will he now have the "decency to resign?" he said. Boris Johnson seems no longer safe from a vote of no confidence within his party, some of whose figures no longer hesitate to openly express their exasperation at the accumulation of missteps. Unlikely in the immediate future, however, this option is no longer taboo among the conservatives, among whom the names of Finance Ministers Rishi Sunak or Foreign Affairs Liz Truss are circulating.

The Scottish separatists of the SNP and the Liberal Democrats have also called for his departure.

Boris Johnson has meanwhile referred to the internal investigation led by senior official Sue Gray, whose conclusions are now shaping up to be decisive on his fate.

"Unable to tell the truth" 

Faced with a series of revelations late last year about parties organized in power circles in defiance of health rules to fight the coronavirus in 2020, Boris Johnson has seen the accusations tighten. The ITV television channel revealed Monday evening the existence of an email sent to a hundred people by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Martin Reynolds, on May 20, 2020. "Bring your bottles", launched the invitation which called to "take advantage of the good weather" on the occasion of a drink "with social distancing" in the gardens of the residence of the head of government.

Thirty or forty people had responded to the invitation, according to the press, including Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie whom he married shortly after. But, assures Downing Street, he had not read this email leaving little ambiguity on the festive nature of the event. On Twitter, the association of relatives of Covid victims Bereaved Families for Justice accused the Prime Minister of taking the British "for fools by claiming that he did not know it was a party", "he is unable to tell the truth and must go ".

In addition to the holidays, Boris Johnson found himself weakened by suspicion of lies about the financing of the luxurious renovation of his official apartment, the award of contracts between friends during the pandemic or even favoritism.