Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Boris Johnson faced lawmakers in the UK Parliament on Tuesday for the first time since police fined him over illegal parties held during coronavirus lockdowns.
The members of the House of Commons were on an 11-day Easter break last week when the prime minister was handed a fine for attending a birthday party that was in violation of lockdown rules.
His chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, was also fined. There have been calls for both men to step down.
Johnson has defied the calls, some of which have come from his own Conservative Party, even after becoming the first modern UK leader to be charged for breaking the law.
But he is now facing possible further penalties for other lockdown parties, as well as the accusation that he misled the Parliament by insisting that he had broken no rules. This could amount to a breach of government ministers' code of conduct for which ministers are expected to step down.
Johnson insisted he was not aware he was breaking the rules.
"I take this opportunity on the first available sitting day to repeat my wholehearted apology to the House [of Commons]. As soon as I received the notice, I acknowledged the hurt and the anger, and I said that people had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister," Johnson told lawmakers.
"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. I repeat that was my mistake, and I apologize for it, unreservedly," he said.
