Johnson in the spotlight after admitting he attended the Downing Street party

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this Wednesday he assumed his “responsibility” and asked for forgiveness to citizens for having attended an event, which he considered a “work event”, in the garden of his Downing Street residence in 2020, in full confinement, in the face of calls from the opposition to resign.

With your credibility down to a minimum, the ‘tory’ leader gave explanations at the control session in the House of Commons, For the first time since the national press revealed that on May 20, two years ago, the gardens of the Executive headquarters hosted a social event attended by about forty people, out of a hundred who had been invited.

That meeting, in which there was drink and snacks, took place while the population abided by severe social restrictions due to the pandemic, imposed precisely by the Government, that prohibited attending funerals, visiting hospitalized relatives and they restricted any social interaction to the maximum.

“I want to apologize. I know that millions of citizens of this country have made extraordinary sacrifices during the last 18 months. I know the anguish they have gone through, without being able to mourn their family members, without being able to live their lives as they wanted or do things. that they like, “said Johnson, aware of the “anger” that the population now feels towards him and his cabinet.

However, the chief executive insisted that he thought it was a work appointment and not a celebration – potentially exonerating him from breaking the rules – although in the invitation sent by his personal secretary, Martin Reynolds, Attendees were urged to bring “their own drink” and to gather together taking advantage of “the good weather.”

Despite the pressure of recent days from different sectors, the politician had refused, until today, to confirm his attendance at the controversial meeting.

“I cannot anticipate the conclusions that the current investigation will yield -for the internal investigation carried out by senior official Sue Gray on alleged meetings in Downing Street during 2020-, but I have learned enough to know that there were things that we simply did not do well and I must take responsibility, “admitted the” premier “.

The event for which sThe apology took place a few weeks after he himself was discharged, on April 12 of that year, from St Thomas Hospital in London, where he was admitted for 8 days (several in intensive care) due to covid-19.

In his speech today, Johnson maintained that when he went out to the Downing Street garden on the following May 20 “to thank the employees”Before returning to his office “to continue working 25 minutes later”, he believed “implicitly that it was a work event”.

Now, he said, go “with perspective” that “I should have sent everyone in and found another way to thank them “, in addition to having recognized “that even if it could technically be said that (the event) conformed to the regulations, there were millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way (…)”. These arguments were met with boos, disbelief and outrage by the deputies.

Having slumped in the polls, Johnson’s survival as prime minister largely depends on the reaction of his own Tory MPs, which could instigate internal elections to replace him.

For their part, Labor, the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democratic Party have called for him to resign. Keir Starmer, leader of the Labor Party – the main opposition group -, was relentless in his response, by accusing his rival of putting on a “pathetic show.”

He considered it “offensive” to the British that their prime minister offered as an apology the argument that “I didn’t know I was going to a party”Instead, he thought it was “a work event.” Is he going to do the right thing now and resign? Starmer wondered.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said that if Johnson himself has “no sense of shame”, it would have to be his party “to act” to remove him, as Liberal Democrat Ed Davey urged him to resign. Conservative Christian Wakeford wondered on Twitter: “How do you defend the indefensible?”