The British prime minister had to pay a fine for attending a banned lockdown party. Is his difficult relationship with the truth now getting on his feet?
For British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the affair about banned lockdown parties in Downing Street, the seat of government, is becoming tricky again.
In his first appearance since receiving a police warrant for attending an illegal assembly, he expressed remorse. But he may face an investigation into whether he lied to Parliament about the matter. Deliberate deception of Parliament is considered a clear reason for resignation.
“I felt the pain and anger immediately,” Johnson said Tuesday about the penalty order. The British people deserve better from their Prime Minister. He paid the fine and apologized profusely. However, he maintained that he had no idea that the meeting in question was a party – the prime minister had let his staff celebrate his birthday with a cake.
Is there a parliamentary committee of inquiry?
Whether this is credible could soon become the subject of a parliamentary inquiry. On Thursday, MPs are to vote on whether the committee responsible should examine Johnson’s statements on the Partygate affair for their truthfulness. Parliament President Lindsay Hoyle approved a corresponding request from the opposition on Tuesday, as he announced.
Johnson had initially completely ruled out breaking the rules in the House of Commons and then claimed not to have noticed anything about it. It later emerged that he himself attended several of the meetings in question. His wife Carrie Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak were also fined.
Ukraine war as a “shield”?
Although prominent Tory MPs are also among Johnson’s critics, the prime minister was able to stabilize his position again, not least because of the Ukraine war. Johnson, whose role model is wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, scored points with a visit to Ukraine, during which he walked the streets of Kiev with Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky. He also campaigned early on for arms deliveries to the country. Accordingly, Johnson quickly switched to the topic of Ukraine on Tuesday.
Labor leader Keir Starmer accused him of using the war as a “shield”. He described Johnson’s statement on the lockdown violations as a “joke”. The Prime Minister is only trying to distract from his violations.
More penalties expected
At the beginning of the year things looked very bad for Johnson after the first reports of the lockdown parties in Downing Street. At the time, a vote of no confidence was considered almost inevitable. It is now considered unlikely. The reason for this was the surprising decision by the London police to investigate the matter. This prevented a full-length internal report by top official Sue Gray from being released and bought Johnson valuable time.
The Metropolitan Police are focusing on twelve events that allegedly violated the Corona rules in force at the time. In the meantime, around 50 penal orders have been issued in connection with the investigations. Johnson is expected to receive more penalties.
According to observers, things could get really tricky for the head of government if his Tories were to make heavy losses in the upcoming local elections on May 5th. Among other places, elections are held in London and in the traditional Labor strongholds in north-west England, known as the “Red Wall”, where Johnson made large gains in the last general election thanks to Brexit.
Johnson is unlikely to take part in the debate about his sincerity. He has already planned a trip to India for Thursday.
Source: Stern
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