LONDON —
British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson on Monday apologized after his government
was criticized for “failures of leadership and judgment” in allowing
lockdown-breaching parties at his offices.
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Johnson’s position has been hanging by a thread
because of the steady drip of revelations since late last year, but he has in
the last week been given a lifeline as police stepped in.
“I’m sorry for the things that we simply didn’t get
right and also sorry for the way this matter has been handled,” Johnson told
MPs in parliament.
He vowed “to get on with the job” despite widespread
political and public anger and calls for him to quit or be forced out.
“I get it and I will fix it,” he added, promising
sweeping changes to his Downing Street operation following criticism about lack
of accountability and managerial oversight.
The police probe meant that senior civil servant Sue
Gray was forced to avoid going into detail in a long-awaited report about 16
events held in 2020 and last year, so as not to prejudice the Scotland Yard
inquiry.
But Gray still managed a stinging rebuke to the
prime minister’s authority, contrasting government officials’ behavior with the
sacrifices made by the public during the pandemic.
“Too little thought” had been given about how
appropriate boozy events were and would be seen as others stuck to the rules,
unable to comfort loved ones sick and dying with COVID.
“There were failures of leadership and judgment by
different parts of No. 10 (Downing Street) and the Cabinet Office at different
times,” Gray wrote in her 12-page report.
“Some of the events should not have been allowed to
take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”
Gray questioned more than 70 individuals and
examined emails, WhatsApp and text messages, photos and Downing Street’s entry
and exit logs.
She condemned “excessive” drinking in Downing
Street, as well as unwieldy expansion of the prime minister’s office in recent
years that had blurred lines of accountability.
‘Man without shame’
Johnson’s opponents have
accused him of misleading parliament by insisting the events at Downing Street
were within the rules at the time and were work-related.
Ministers found
to have misled MPs are normally expected to resign.
In angry exchanges in the House of Commons, Johnson
urged all sides to await the Metropolitan Police’s own findings.
But opposition Labour leader
Keir Starmer said the
fact that 12 of the 16 parties, including one in Johnson’s own flat, were
subject to a police probe was “a mark of shame”.
“He is a man without shame,” the former chief
prosecutor said, urging Johnson’s Conservative cabinet allies to depose him
instead of “supporting further misconduct, cover-up, and deceit”.
Weeks of revelations in the British media since
December have seen leaked photographs and emails indicating repeated breaches
of social distancing rules the government set for the country.
They include a cocktail party in May 2020 in the
Downing Street garden, as well as Christmas celebrations, and also a
drink-fuelled get-together before Prince Philip’s funeral in April.
Details of that event, at which staff reportedly
brought a suitcase filled with alcohol and danced until the small hours, caused
outrage given the socially distanced memorial.
An enduring image of the funeral was
Queen Elizabeth II, sat alone in the chapel at Windsor Castle, mourning her husband of 73
years.
Downing Street later apologized to the monarch.
Breathing space
The revelations have posed
the greatest threat to Johnson’s position since he became prime minister in
2019 on a wave of support for his populist Brexit agenda.
A handful of his own Conservative party MPs are on
record as saying they had no confidence in his leadership. More have been
expected to join them.
Fifty-four Tory MPs are required to force a
no-confidence vote but many have been keeping their counsel until the Gray
report comes out.
Former international development secretary Andrew
Mitchell joined the Conservative rebels, telling Johnson in parliament he no
longer had his support.
But with Gray’s report limited in scope, and the
police inquiry potentially lasting months, Johnson has been given an
opportunity to regroup his supporters and get back on the front foot.
In recent days he has talked tough against
Russia in
the simmering tensions with Ukraine, and is keen to push on with his
post-Brexit agenda.
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