British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has apologized for attending a party in May 2020, in full lockdown. He also claimed to have paid the fine for breaking the rules related to Covid-19, a sanction hitherto unprecedented for a Prime Minister.
With this “Partygate”, several Conservative MPs had openly spoken out a few months ago for the departure of Boris Johnson. Too few in number, the rebels had failed to trigger a vote of no confidence.
For his part, the Prime Minister assured “understand the anger”, without responding to calls for resignation, launched in particular by Scottish independence Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon or Labor leader Keir Starmer who was indignant in a message posted on Twitter: “They must both resign. The Conservatives are totally unfit to govern. Britain deserves better.”
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public.
They must both resign.
The Conservatives are totally unfit to govern. Britain deserves better.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 12, 2022
Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and the Prime Minister’s wife Carrie Johnson, who were also sanctioned, also apologized. In this case, the police issued more than 50 fines for breaches of anti-Covid rules but without ever specifying the names of the recipients.
international crisis: unassailable?
“I now want to continue and fulfill the mandate that is mine,” he explained, citing in particular the economic situation of the country and above all, the war in Ukraine. Indeed, in the midst of an international crisis, the Prime Minister benefits from a favorable context, in particular with the war in Ukraine, which dissuades the parliamentarians of his conservative camp from trying to oust him.
Conservative MP Roger Gale said he was “not ready to give Vladimir Putin the satisfaction of thinking that we are about to overthrow the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and destabilize the coalition against Putin”.
The leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Douglas Ross, who had once asked for the resignation, also finally opposed this departure which “would destabilize the United Kingdom when we must be united in the face of Russian aggression”.
Finally, Rishi Sunak, who was tipped as a possible successor to Boris Johnson, is himself sanctioned and weakened by revelations about his tax situation and that of his wife.