Johnson apologizes for party during lockdown but says he thinks it’s a business meeting | Globalism

“Millions of people have had to make sacrifices in the past 18 months and I understand the anger they may feel towards my government,” the prime minister told parliament. “I accepted my responsibility, I went to the park that day and thought it was a business meeting.”

The Prime Minister is referring to a meeting recorded in May 2020 in which he is seen in Downing Street Gardens amidst bottles of liquor and a small crowd.

• Boris Johnson accused of participating in a party at Government House during lockdown

But this is not the only party that would have been held at Government House during the pandemic, at least five other meetings have been listed in local press reports.

Opponents accuse Johnson of lying and urge him to step down.

Known as Partigate – a reference to the Watergate affair that toppled US President Richard Nixon in 1974 – the scandal angers Britons to the point that only 27% advocate the prime minister remaining in office, according to a YouGov poll for Sky. .

Johnson’s chief adviser, Martin Reynolds, in May 2020 sent an email to 100 Downing Street employees, inviting them to enjoy the good weather at a meeting in the garden of the official government residence.

“Please join us at 6 p.m. and bring your own drink,” Reynolds said in his message, carried by ITV News.

At the time, visits were prohibited and the largest gathering was limited to two people outdoors, albeit at a distance of two metres.

Five days ago, the couple participated in another cheese and wine encounter in the garden of the house and accompanied by other employees, as shown in a photo recently published by the newspaper “The Guardian”.

Scandals make the prime minister lose support among his co-religionists, As Sandra Cohen, a columnist at g1 . says,.