Johnson says sorry for partygate as critics prep censure bid

LONDON (AP):

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday offered what he said was a “wholehearted” apology for attending an illegal party during lockdown – but insisted he didn’t knowingly break rules or mislead Parliament, and brushed off calls to resign.

Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that it simply “did not occur to me” that the birthday gathering, complete with a cake, was a party.

That excuse was greeted with derision by opposition politicians – and some among the governing Conservatives – who have called with increasing frustration for Johnson to quit since stories began to circulate late last year of parties in the prime minister’s office and other government buildings in 2020 and 2021, when millions in the country were barred from meeting with friends and family or even attending funerals for their loved ones.

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer branded the apology “half-hearted” and “a joke”.

Last week, Johnson was fined 50 pounds (US$66) for attending his own surprise birthday party at 10 Downing Street in June 2020, making him the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.

DISHONEST

Speaking as the House of Commons returned from an 11-day Easter break, Johnson acknowledged people’s “hurt and anger”, but added that “it did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the Cabinet Room, just before a vital meeting on COVID strategy, could amount to a breach of the rules”.

Starmer said that excuse would ring hollow with ordinary people who “understand that the rules apply to all of us,” and he challenged Conservatives to “bring an end to this shameful chapter” and jettison Johnson.

“He knows he’s dishonest and incapable of changing,” Starmer said. “So he drags everybody else down with him.”

Starmer was told off by House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle for accusing another member of dishonesty – a breach of parliamentary rules. Minutes later, Labour lawmaker Karl Turner also was chastised by the Speaker after branding Johnson a liar.