• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Film/TV/Stream
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Tech/Science
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox

Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

Towleroad May 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
Reuters
524436 origin 1

By Elizabeth Piper and Muvija M

LONDON (Reuters) -A “humbled” Boris Johnson said he took full responsibility but would not quit after a damning official report on Wednesday detailed a series of illegal lockdown parties at the British leader’s Downing Street office.

Johnson has faced repeated calls to resign from opposition politicians and some in his own party over the alcohol-fuelled gatherings, after it was revealed that he and officials had broken COVID-19 rules that all but banned people from socialising outside their households.

“I … am humbled and I have learned a lesson,” Prime Minister Johnson told parliament, saying he would not quit over the scandal.

His foreign minister Liz Truss, seen as a possible successor, said she backed him “100%” after his apology.

The report by senior official Sue Gray did not specifically blame Johnson, but gave graphic details and included photographs from more than a dozen gatherings.

He attended some, including a party to celebrate his 56th birthday on June 19, 2020 that he was fined over but which Gray said he was unaware of in advance.

“Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen,” the report said. “The senior leadership …must bear responsibility for this culture.”

Johnson, who commissioned the report after revelations of boozy Downing Street events, said he was appalled by some of the behaviour it had uncovered.

Gray’s interim findings were published in January, but details were withheld until the end of a police inquiry that concluded last week with 126 fines handed out.

DISMAYING BEHAVIOUR AT ‘HEART OF GOVERNMENT’

Her full report included emails and messages that showed many gatherings were planned in advance, with discussions on who would bring alcohol – drinks that “we we seem to have got away with”, the then head of Johnson’s Downing Street office, Martin Reynolds, said in one message. [L5N2XH35B]

There were warnings from another official that people should not be “waving bottles of wine” before a gathering that coincided with a televised news conference when ministers told the public to follow the COVID rules.

At one June 2020 event, Gray said “excessive alcohol consumption” led to one person being sick and a fight between two others. [nL5N2XH35B]

At another, the night before the April 2021 funeral for Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip, individuals partied into the early hours and damaged a swing.

“Many will be dismayed that behaviour of this kind took place on this scale at the heart of government,” Gray said. “The public have a right to expect the very highest standards of behaviour in such places and clearly what happened fell well short of this.”

She cited multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff who had to remove red wine from walls after one event.

For months, evidence of the parties has dripped out into the media, forcing Johnson to apologise, change his office team and promise a reset to try to restore his authority.

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was time for Johnson to quit, saying the report laid bare that the government believed that it was one rule for them and another for everyone else.

“You cannot be a lawmaker and a law-breaker,” Starmer – himself under police investigation for breaking COVID rules, told parliament. He has said he’ll resign if fined.

Johnson’s immediate fate lies in the hands of his Conservative lawmakers who can call for a leadership challenge.

Many had said they would wait for Gray’s full report before deciding whether to demand Johnson should go.

“Are you willing day in and day out to defend his behaviour publicly?” Tobias Ellwood, a long-time critic of Johnson, implored of his parliamentary colleagues.

Others felt the report was less damning than it could have been. “This is all so banal,” one Conservative said on condition of anonymity.

Johnson had initially denied there had been parties or rule-breaking at Downing Street, and some lawmakers say his position is untenable if he is found to have lied to parliament, a matter under investigation by the Committee of Privileges.

By way of apology for his earlier denials, said he wanted to “correct for the record” that no rules were broken. “Clearly this was not the case for some of those gatherings after I had left,” Johnson told parliament.

Drunkenness, vomiting and a scuffle detailed at UK government lockdown partiesFACTBOX-What are the findings from a report into lockdown parties in Downing Street?

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Mujiva M, William James, Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout; writing by Michael Holden; editing by John Stonestreet)

524436 524436 origin 1 1
524436 524436 origin 1 2
524436 524436 origin 1 3
524436 524436 origin 1 4
524436 524436 origin 1 5

Topics: Aaon, Politics More Posts About: Boris Johnson, Liz Truss

Related Posts
  • Scandal-ridden Boris Johnson to quit as UK prime minister
  • Leaders at G7 mock bare-chested horseback rider Putin
  • Russian State TV Blames Queen Elizabeth For The ‘Collapse’ Of The British Empire
  • U.S. funeral home owner who sold body parts pleads guilty to fraud

    U.S. funeral home owner who sold body parts pleads guilty to fraud

    Published by Reuters By John Shiffman (Reuters) – A former Colorado funeral home owner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal charge of defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting their family members’ corpses and selling …Read More »
  • Gorgosaurus tipped to fetch $8 mn at New York auction

    Gorgosaurus tipped to fetch $8 mn at New York auction

    Published by AFP An art handler looks at a Gorgosaurus Skeleton measuring 10 feet tall (3.04 meters) at Sotheby’s in New York, on July 05, 2022 New York (AFP) – A skeleton of a Gorgosaurus dinosaur …Read More »
  • Dave Chappelle Thwarts Housing Project In Ohio Hometown By Buying Up Land

    Dave Chappelle Thwarts Housing Project In Ohio Hometown By Buying Up Land

    Published by Radar Online APEX / MEGA Already a local hero in Yellow Springs, Ohio, comedian Dave Chappelle has solidified his standing with a most unusual real estate deal. Per the Daily Mail, Chappelle dipped into …Read More »
  • Jon M Chu to produce Beauty and the Beast live special

    Jon M Chu to produce Beauty and the Beast live special

    Published by BANG Showbiz English ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is getting a live special, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Oscar nomination. The beloved 1991 Disney classic was the first ever animated feature to earn …Read More »
Previous Post: « Shunned! Caitlyn Jenner Denied Invite To Kardashian-Barker Wedding In Italy
Next Post: Nike halts sales to retailers in Russia »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Scandal-ridden Boris Johnson to quit as UK prime minister

    Scandal-ridden Boris Johnson to quit as UK prime minister

  • Labcorp becomes first lab in the U.S. to offer nationwide monkeypox testing

    Labcorp becomes first lab in the U.S. to offer nationwide monkeypox testing

  • No Justice, No Peace! Madonna Wants To ‘Start A Revolution’ After Overturn Of Roe V. Wade

    No Justice, No Peace! Madonna Wants To ‘Start A Revolution’ After Overturn Of Roe V. Wade

RSS Partner Links

  • Beyoncé Reportedly Ran #MeToo Checks On Collaborators On Her New Album “Renaissance”
  • OMG, he’s naked: Brazilian influencer Carlinhos Maia ‘s husband shares the Insta-story of the year
  • OMG, Vanity Fair makes Trixie answer the hard questions with a lie-detector test as she promotes ‘Trixie Motel’
  • OMG, Rupert Everett’s ’50 Shade of Gay’ LGBTQ+ historical doc is now available online to watch in full here
  • Early Oscar Buzz + Monkeypox Spreading — And It Is A Nightmare + Q Anon Blows Up Georgia Guidestones Because Satan + MORE! —12-PACK
  • Today’s Insta Hunk: Roberto Portales!
  • Happy 63rd birthday to Billy Campbell!

Most Recent

  • MPX is MonkeyPox is Everywhere; CDC Undercounts Cases; ‘Lesions, Headaches, Debilitating Pain… You Don’t Want This ‘;  ROUNDUP

    MPX is MonkeyPox is Everywhere; CDC Undercounts Cases; ‘Lesions, Headaches, Debilitating Pain… You Don’t Want This ‘; ROUNDUP

  • U.S. funeral home owner who sold body parts pleads guilty to fraud

    U.S. funeral home owner who sold body parts pleads guilty to fraud

  • Gorgosaurus tipped to fetch $8 mn at New York auction

    Gorgosaurus tipped to fetch $8 mn at New York auction

  • Dave Chappelle Thwarts Housing Project In Ohio Hometown By Buying Up Land

    Dave Chappelle Thwarts Housing Project In Ohio Hometown By Buying Up Land

  • Jon M Chu to produce Beauty and the Beast live special

    Jon M Chu to produce Beauty and the Beast live special

  • Campaign Banner Defaced With Homophobic Slur,  Stolen Over July 4th; Out Kansas City Candidate Justice Horn ‘Not Backing Down’

    Campaign Banner Defaced With Homophobic Slur, Stolen Over July 4th; Out Kansas City Candidate Justice Horn ‘Not Backing Down’

  • Georgia grand jury in Trump election probe subpoenas Giuliani, Senator Graham

    Georgia grand jury in Trump election probe subpoenas Giuliani, Senator Graham

  • Bette Midler denies being ‘exclusionary or transphobic’ after backlash over ‘erasure of women’ tweet

    Bette Midler denies being ‘exclusionary or transphobic’ after backlash over ‘erasure of women’ tweet

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy
[towleroadmr] [towleroadtn]

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Log in