Boris Johnson must resign in “the public interest”, a Tory MP has said, as the fallout from Sue Gray’s damning inquiry into raucous No 10 parties during lockdown continued.
MP for York Outer Julian Sturdy tweeted that he felt “unable” to give Mr Johnson the benefit of the doubt and “feel it is in the public interest for him to resign”.
Despite pressure from his own side to quit, the prime minister said he “overwhelmingly” believed he should remain in office despite public anger at the “bitter and painful” conclusions of the Partygate saga.
Mr Johnson issued a televised apology over the scandal in an address to the nation after the report attacked “a serious failure” to abide by the “standards expected of the entire British population” during the pandemic.
The findings of the report revealed raucous parties in No 10 where staff sang karaoke, dozens of people attended a drunken party at which red wine was spilled on a wall and that “winetime Fridays” were regular events.
One individual was sick due to “excessive alcohol consumption”, partygoers were rude to cleaning and security staff, and there was a “minor altercation” between two other partygoers.
Boris Johnson’s full statement after Sue Gray report
Lib Dems focus Tiverton and Honiton by-election campaign material on Partygate
The Liberal Democrats campaign material for the upcoming Tiverton and Honiton by-election focuses heavily on the Partygate scandal.
The ad has a picture of an elderly person grieving with the words “while people grieved alone..” above her and then a picture of a smiling Boris Johnson that says “they partied in Downing Street”.
Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the seat told The Independent he felt the campaign material highlighted what voters were talking about on the doorstep.
He said: “People are telling us they just want honesty and integrity from their prime minister and it is quite obvious he has just not shown that and what this does is act as a mouthpiece for what those people are saying; that they are fed up with that lack of integrity. And we are saying they don’t have to put up with it, there is an alternative.
“Johnson set the rules and the hypocrisy in not following them and then not being honest about that with parliament or the British people shows a complete lack of moral courage. It is right to acknowledge to that.”
Boris Johnson set to pay tribute to ‘remarkable’ Queen
Boris Johnson will pay tribute to the “remarkable” Queen in an address to Parliament ahead of her Platinum Jubilee.
The prime minister will say that the Queen’s length of service and dedication to duty are “without parallel”.
It comes as the nation prepares to celebrate the Jubilee over the June bank holiday.
Mr Johnson will make his tribute to the Queen while proposing a Humble Address in Parliament.
He will say: “Today we pay tribute to a head of state whose length of service and dedication to duty to are simply without parallel.
“The only monarch most of us in this country have ever known and the rock to which our nation and our people have been anchored throughout all that the past 70 years have thrown at us.”
He will add that the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth will be “unabashed” in celebrating her.
“That is why next week the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth will be unabashed in celebrating not the institution of the Crown but the individual who wears it,” he will tell Parliament.
“This remarkable woman who by God and her right has led her country through good times and bad.
“Who has dedicated her life to her people, to her beloved Commonwealth, to the very idea of what a constitutional monarchy can and should be.”
Tory peer Zac Goldsmith criticises Archbishop of Canterbury’s Partygate intervention
Tory peer and former MP Zac Goldsmith has criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for his comments on Sue Gray’s Partygate report.
Justin Welby said the report shows that “culture, behaviour and standards in public life” matter. In a statement, the archbishop added that “we need to be able to trust our national institutions” in times of trouble.
On Twitter, Mr Goldsmith responded to Mr Welby’s statement and said: “War, hunger, environmental devastation, collapse of the natural systems we all depend on… But great to see the head of the Church focusing on the things that really matter.”
Labour peer calls on Tory members to stop ‘out-of-touch’ PM
Responding to the Sue Gray report in the Lords, Labour frontbencher Lord Collins of Highbury called on Conservative members to act “to stop this out-of-touch, out-of-control Prime Minister from driving Britain towards disaster”.
He said: “When the dust settles and the anger – strongly felt by many of our communities – subsides, this report will stand as a monument to the arrogance of a government that believed it was one rule for them and another rule for everyone else.
“It is pretty clear the Prime Minister knew exactly what was happening in Number 10 throughout the lockdown periods and that it was wrong both legally and morally.”
Appealing to Tory peers, he said: “They must now use their influence on colleagues to stop this out-of-touch, out-of-control Prime Minister from driving Britain towards disaster.”
Sue Gray report: Fury in Whitehall as senior officials escape Partygate punishment
Sue Gray’s report has triggered a fresh wave of fury among officials in Whitehall, outraged at the lack of punishment for senior civil servants.
A host of officials told The Independent that Ms Gray’s lack of recommendations for disciplinary actions has left them unable to clean up the civil service’s reputation.
“Simon, Martin, Helen and others have brought the service into disrepute,” a senior Whitehall source said.
Anna Isaac reports.
Tory MP thinks Boris Johnson will lead party into the next election
A Tory MP has said she thinks Boris Johnson will lead the Conservatives into the next election, despite the fallout from the Partygate scandal.
In a clip posted to Twitter, ITV’s Robert Peston asks Victoria Prentis: “It sounds like you believe the prime minister will lead your party into the next election?”
She responds: “Yes I think he will, today is clearly not a great day…”
ICYMI: PM refuses to say what he was doing at the ‘Abba party’ in his flat
Tory MP accuses NHS staff of ‘letting hair down’ under Covid lockdown
A Conservative MP has accused NHS workers of “letting their hair down” during the UK’s Covid lockdowns in a similar way to government staff during the events detailed in Sue Gray’s Partygate report.
According to a BBC journalist, Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, told its Look East programme “you haven’t gone and investigated it, but there are 1.5m people working in NHS” and he bets that, if the broadcaster tried hard enough, it “could find some people who were letting their hair down who were working 24/7 in the NHS as well.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has hit out at the comments, which he described as a “grotesque insult to the people who work for the NHS.”
“He should withdraw this and apologise,” he added.
Opinion: Sue Gray has given Boris Johnson’s critics enough ammunition to move against him
In her long-awaited report on Partygate today, Sue Gray has given Boris Johnson’s critics enough ammunition to move against him, writes Andrew Grice.The senior civil servant concluded: “The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture.”
In other words, Johnson as well as senior civil servants must take the rap for a drinking and party culture in Downing Street and for the “many” events which Gray said “should not have been allowed to happen” because they broke the government’s Covid laws.
Her 37-page report is typically forensic, matching up the detailed preparations for events and what happened at them (the last person leaving No 10 at 04:20 or 03:13, for example). It could have been worse for Johnson; his friends will argue there is no smoking gun telling us something new about his involvement and the photos of parties Gray published were not damaging.
