British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has responded to an investigative report on government parties that took place during coronavirus blockades saying he takes “full responsibility for everything that happened”.
But while the report released Wednesday said the blame for breaking the rules lies with the government, Johnson reiterated that he did not break any rules consciously. He ignored calls from opponents to resign.
The prime minister said he was “humble” and had “taken a lesson”, but now it was time to “move forward” and focus on the government’s priorities.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior officials are responsible for a culture of non-compliance that led to several parties breaching UK VOCID-19 blocking rules (Leon Neal / Getty Images)
The long-awaited report by senior official Sue Gray said that “the top leadership team … must take responsibility” for a culture that allowed non-compliance to occur.
The revelations that Johnson and his staff repeatedly violated the rules they imposed on others have outraged Britain and prompted opponents to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister. But most of his party’s lawmakers have backed him so far, and it’s unclear if the long-awaited report will change that.
Gray investigated 16 meetings attended by Johnson and his staff in 2020 and 2021, while people in the UK were banned from socializing, or even visiting sick or dying relatives, due to coronavirus restrictions.
Gray said there had been “leadership and trial failures at number 10,” a reference to the address of the prime minister’s office.
Photos in the report show a meeting in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street on the Prime Minister’s Birthday on June 19, 2020 (REPORT FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM / SUE GRAY) Treasury Chief Rishi Sunak was also seen alongside the Prime Minister on June 19. photos of the interior of the cabinet room (UK GOVERNMENT REPORT / SUE GRAY)
“Those in the junior positions attended meetings where their seniors were present or organized,” he said.
A separate police investigation resulted in 83 people being fined, including Johnson, making him the first British prime minister to be found to have broken the law while in office.
Johnson has previously apologized, but insisted that he did not knowingly violate the rules. British media and opposition politicians have found it difficult to reconcile staff members’ accounts of the “bring your own drink” parties and the usual “Fridays at wine time” in the office. Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing St. at the height of the pandemic.
Much of Gray’s 37-page report is devoted to a detailed account of events, including a May 2020 party at Downing Street Garden to which “the Prime Minister brought cheese and wine from his apartment” and a party the following month in which “one individual was ill” and “there was a small altercation between two other individuals.”
Photographs from the November 13, 2020 report show the Prime Minister with a drink at a meeting at 10 Downing Street at the exit of a special adviser (UNITED KINGDOM REPORT / SUE GRAY) The Prime Minister also seemed to be giving a toast to the party (Government of the United Kingdom / SUE GRAY REPORT)
At another party, gardeners broke a swing that belonged to Johnson’s youngest son, Wilf, and went to a party until 4 p.m.
“Many will be dismayed for such behavior to take place at this scale in the heart of government,” Gray wrote. “The public has a right to expect the highest standards of behavior in these places and it’s clear that what happened was a long way from that.”
Critics, some of them within Johnson’s Conservative Party, have said the prime minister has lied to Parliament about the events. Ministers who deliberately deceive Parliament are expected to resign.
Gray’s conclusions could revive Conservative lawmakers’ call for censorship vote on leader (Leon Neal / Getty Images)
Johnson has clung to power so far, in part because the Russian invasion of Ukraine diverted public and political attention. Some conservatives who sought a no-confidence vote against its leader decided that it would be hasty to oust Johnson in the midst of the war, which is destabilizing Europe and fueling a cost-of-living crisis.
The prime minister received a new suspension when the Metropolitan Police told him last week that he would not receive any more fines even though he attended several investigated events.
But Gray’s findings could revive Conservative lawmakers’ calls for a vote of no confidence in the leader, who won a large parliamentary majority just over two years ago. According to party rules, this vote is triggered if 15% of party lawmakers, currently 54 people, write letters asking for one.
Gray investigated 16 meetings attended by Johnson and his staff in 2020 and 2021, while people in the UK could not socialize (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)
If Johnson lost that vote, he would be replaced as Conservative leader and prime minister. It is unclear how many letters have been sent so far.
Environment Secretary George Eustice defended the prime minister on Wednesday, but acknowledged that “the line between what was acceptable and what was not blurred, and that was a mistake.”
“The Prime Minister himself has accepted it and acknowledges that, of course, there have been flaws and therefore there must be some changes in the way the site is managed,” Eustice told Times Radio.