A report published by a civil servant in UK indicts the Prime Minister for violating Covid guidelines. Boris Johnson’s accused of taking part in gatherings at a time when the whole nation enforced a strict lockdown. Johnson doesn’t have confidence of 18 Conservative MPs. Yesterday, four MPs called for his Resignation.
Yesterday, four Conservative MP’s joined to call for Boris Johnson’s resignation for leadership failure during the Covid pandemic in 2020. The four MP’s John Baron, David Simmonds, Stephen Hammond and Julian Sturdy have joined a group of Conservative MP’s wanting Boris Johnson to resign Mr. Baron and Mr. Simmonds publicly called for Johnson’s resignation. Mr. Hammond ,the Conservative MP from Wimbledon said he “cannot and will not defend the invisible”. He also remarked that he has been critical of Johnson’s behaviour and the work culture of 10 Downing Street. He concluded that conclusions in the Sue Gray report were “damning” for the PM and the civil service. The Conservative party cannot move on without regaining public trust and he doesn’t know whether that’s possible in the current situation. “All I can do as a backbencher is speak out and submit a letter,” he said.
David Simmonds joined Hammonds against Johnson. He said that while it’s clear that while it’s clear that the government and the party still enjoys public confidence, the prime minister doesn’t. Another Conservative MP, John Stevenson told BBC that he and his colleagues would decide on Johnson’s future in the next few weeks. He suggested that Tory MP were reconsidering as to whether Boris Johnson can indeed change and regain people’s trust. Another backbencher, Julian Sturdy remarks that the Sue Gray report show Johnson presiding over a widespread culture of disregard for the Coronavirus regulations”.
What is there in the Sue Gray Report?
Senior Civil Servant Sue Gray’s report gives detailed instances of drinking, mistreatment of cleaning and security staff and multiple Covid rule violations by Boris Johnson’s leadership. It documents 16 such events at 10 Downing Street where the leadership drank excessively and misbehaved with staff. It charges Boris Johnson of being physically present when such misdemeanor occurred under his watch. There are nine photographs showing him and Chancellor Rishi Sunak partying and raising toasts. And these events occurred at a time when the whole nation struggled went on strict lockdown in 2020.
A fellow dissident MP, John Baron concedes that Johnson willingly misled the parliament about holding parties at 10 Downing Street.
“Given the scale of rule breaking in No 10, I cannot accept that the prime minister was unaware. Therefore, his repeated assurances in parliament that there was no rule-breaking is simply not credible”, he said.
Currently, Boris Johnson faces an enquiry by the Commons Privileges Committee of the British Parliament as to whether he lied. On Wednesday, Johnson admitted that he took full responsibility for everything that occurred under his watch. He said that he had also apologized personally before his cleaners in Downing Street.
The Metropolitan has investigated the parties held by the leadership during lockdown. They handed out 126 penalty notices for breaches of rule. The police fined Johnson for attending a birthday party in the cabinet room in June 2020.
Boris Johnson’s Safe for Now.
Following the coming out of the report, leaders from the Labour party have called for his resignation. Lisa Nandy, shadow secretary of the Labour party accused him of passing off responsibility to junior staff. However, Stephen Barclay, Downing Street’s Chief of Staff said that the Prime Minister has shaken up his team and has apologized for those events. Chancellor Rishi Sunak defended him ,saying: Not only has he apologized and taken responsibility, he’s acted and learnt the lessons”. Johnson’s actions appear ironical since he himself was admitted with Covid 19 that year. However, a number of his supporters have rallied to his defence and may prevent him from being toppled over. Conservative MP’s can change the leadership if they write enough letters of no confidence. So far, BBC reports that 18 have already done so, but they are short of 54 more.
(Inputs, BBC)
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