At the foot of the wall, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, acknowledged Wednesday before the deputies his presence at a party held in Downing Street in full containment in 2020 and offered his “apologies”. He failed to convince the opposition, which demands his resignation.
In the hot seat after a string of overwhelming scandals, the long-stainless steel-haired 57-year-old Tory has had the toughest weekly parliamentary question-and-answer session since taking office in July 2019 as the savior of a Brexit in dead end.
The event in question, which took place 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, few people were allowed to be outside, and many were unable to say goodbye to a dying loved one.
In an electric House of Commons on Wednesday, Boris Johnson maintained that he then estimated that the evening, where a hundred people would have been invited with instructions to bring a drink, was a work meeting. He admitted having spent 25 minutes in the gardens, an office extension then “constantly” used, given the virtues of the great outdoors against the virus.
In a carefully considered intervention, he conceded that he should have concluded that while the event could “technically” be considered proper, the perception of “millions” of Britons could be quite different. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
“Ridiculous” and “insulting”
Accusing the Prime Minister of lies, Labor opposition leader Keir Starmer said his defense was “so ridiculous” it became “insulting” to his compatriots. The “only question” is, according to the Labor leader, 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, like the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, who judges that its position is “no longer tenable”.
Unlikely in the immediate future, this option is no longer taboo among the conservatives, among whom the names of the Minister of Finance, Rishi Sunak, and the Minister of 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 his opponents 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”
Splashed at the end of last year by a series of revelations about parties organized in power circles in defiance of health rules against the coronavirus in 2020, Boris Johnson saw the accusations tighten.
The ITV television channel revealed on Monday evening the existence of an email sent by the Prime Minister’s chief secretary, Martin Reynolds, on May 20, 2020. “Bring your bottles”, launched the invitation, which called for “take advantage good weather “on the occasion of a rally” with social distancing “in the gardens of the residence of the head of government.
About thirty or forty people had responded to the invitation, according to the press, including Boris Johnson and his fiancee, Carrie, whom he married soon 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-19 victims Bereaved Families for Justice ruled that Boris Johnson was “unable to speak the truth and [devait] to leave “.
In London, Jada Robert, a student, told AFP to find the whole thing “not very fair”: “At the time, we were not allowed to see our family or our friends. Everyone was following the rules, but the people who put those rules in place weren’t really following them. “
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 awarding of contracts to friends during the pandemic or even favoritism.