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UK PM responds to calls to step down — Analysis

A report on lockdown-breaching parties finds that the UK prime minister must “bear responsibility” for what happened

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, stated Wednesday that he took responsibility for the situation. “full responsibility”There were more than twelve parties that met at Downing Street or Whitehall when Britain was suffering from coronavirus restrictions. But, the PM refused calls to his resignation from the opposition and declared that he would continue to serve as Prime Minister. “move on” from the ‘Partygate’ scandal. 

A long-awaited report was released earlier. “failures of leadership and judgement” at Johnson’s office for allowing the parties to take place. Senior civil servant Sue Gray investigated 16 gatherings that took place at government buildings during Britain’s nationwide lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021, and concluded that “many of these events should not have been allowed to happen.”

Johnson must have been photographed as he attended several of the events. “bear responsibility for this culture,”The report was updated.

Emails from Johnson’s staffers mentioned “drunkenness”The PM was able to attend a single event virtually, in December 2020. Staff members were also present. “drank excessively” at another gathering three days later at the Prime Minister’s residence. The time at the “crowded and noisy”party-going Britons were kept in their homes by London authorities, while Londoners were prohibited from hosting more than two persons at a time.

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“I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch,”Johnson spoke to Parliament Wednesday. Johnson maintained that his “attendance at these moments, brief as it was, has not been found to be outside the rules,”He stated that “clearly this was not the case”Some events continued well into the evening after his departure.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer – who himself is being investigated for drinking with staff during lockdown in 2021 – described the report as a “catalog of criminality,”Johnson was encouraged to “do the decent thing and step down.” 

Amid condemnation from Labour, some of his own MPs, and calls to resign from the SNP’s Ian Blackford, Johnson said that he was “humbled”by the investigation. But wants to “move on”Stay in power.

Aside from being blamed in Gray’s report, Johnson has also been fined £50 ($62) for attending a surprise birthday party thrown for him in June 2020. Over 100 fines have been issued by the London Metropolitan Police to those who went to the parties mentioned.

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