Boris Johnson should resign if it is shown he broke lockdown rules, the leader of Conservatives in Scotland has said.
Douglas Ross said the prime minister should make clear immediately whether he attended a drinks event in the garden of 10 Downing Street on 20 May 2020, at a time when Britons were allowed to meet only one other person outdoors.
Describing the situation as “a complete mess”, Mr Ross told Sky News: “This is a complete mess. It undermines everything that the government is doing.”
“People are rightly furious about these revelations because they followed the rules, they sacrificed all these things back in May 2020 and it looks like some of the very top government didn’t.”
Downing Street has insisted that it will not comment on allegations relating to the event while an inquiry is under way by Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray into a number of alleged parties.
But Mr Ross said there was no need for the PM to wait for Ms Gray to report – or even to remain quiet until he faces MPs at prime minister’s questions in the Commons on Wednesday.
“I’m furious, people across Scotland and across the United Kingdom are furious,” he told said.
“I can understand that feeling of fury, anger and rage that people across the UK are feeling right now.”
Mr Ross said there was no reason why the PM could not break his silence on whether he attended the 20 May party.
“’It’s not pre-judging Sue Gray’s inquiry for the prime minister to come forward and say if he was at the party or not.
“That’s a crucial question that won’t in any way undermine Sue Gray’s investigation. It will let the public know right now if he was there or not.
“That’s a crucial question that shouldn’t have to wait for prime minister’s questions tomorrow. We should hear the answer right now.”
Mr Ross added: “If he has breached his own guidance, if he has not been truthful, then that is an extremely important issue. And I’ve said previously, if the prime minister has misled parliament, then he must resign.
“If there’s nothing to hide here, if there’s no issue, then just answer the question.
“And if there is, then that is an acceptance that he himself breached the guidance that his government were putting in place – the guidance that stopped people going to family members’ funerals, that stopped people grieving together.
“Doctors and nurses were working flat out to get this virus under control, and people across the country were following some of the strictest guidance we’ve ever seen.
“If the prime minister and others in No 10 breached that guidance, when earlier that afternoon a cabinet minister had told people what they’re expected to do, yet out the back of No 10 there were people enjoying the sunshine in the garden, I think that is utterly despicable.”
Mr Ross said Mr Johnson could “absolutely not” stay on if he was found to have broken the law.
“This is a law … that constituents up and down the country have suffered as a result of. They have been fined, they have been punished for breaking the rules that the UK government put in place.
“If the UK government and the prime minister have broken those rules, then they must be punished too.”
