London: Caught partying during a pandemic, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson bought himself some breathing space with an apology and a promise to change. But his troubles are far from over. Boris Johnson was battling Tuesday to rally a rancorous Conservative Party Tuesday. His move came after an inquiry slammed failures at the top that led to Downing Street staff holding boozy parties while the country was in lockdown.
Johnson told lawmakers in Parliament “I get it, and I will fix it,” promising to overhaul the way his office runs after senior civil servant Sue Gray found in her partial report that ‘failures of leadership and judgment’ allowed events to occur that ‘should not have been allowed to take place’.
Johnson addressed scores of Conservative legislators behind closed doors Monday night. He assured them he took criticisms seriously and promised to get a tighter grip on a Downing Street operation that Gray found was marked by excessive drinking and dysfunctional dynamics.
Johnson was rallying his Cabinet at its weekly meeting Tuesday before flying to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab defended Johnson. “He believes he acted in good faith on the advice he had at all times,” Raab said Tuesday
Johnson’s grip on power has been shaken by revelations that his staff held ‘bring your own booze’ office parties, birthday celebrations and ‘wine time Fridays’ at Downing Street at times in 2020 and 2021 when Britons were barred from socialising to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
There could be worse to come. Gray only released her findings on four of 16 events being probed, because police are investigating the other dozen — including an alleged ABBA-themed party in the prime minister’s private Downing Street apartment. Gray is expected to produce a full report once the police investigation is finished.
The government initially declined to promise that report would be published in full, but agreed to do so late Monday after coming under intense pressure.
For now, many Conservatives are biding their time, sticking by the leader who won them an 80-seat parliamentary majority in 2019. The party has a history of ousting leaders once they become liabilities, and Johnson could yet face a no-confidence vote from his own side if the police or Gray produces more damning evidence. Under party rules, such a vote is triggered if 15 per cent of party lawmakers — currently 54 people — write letters calling for one.
Some Tories felt that, despite promising to change, Johnson had showed a lack of contrition. He also failed to understand the anger many voters feel at the ‘partygate’ revelations.
Former Conservative leader William Hague said Johnson had done ‘the minimum in responding to the report rather than (going) further in his apology and his proposals’. “Instead of reinforcing the momentum in his favour, he quite possibly stalled it,” Hague wrote in The Times of London. “If I were him, I would be very worried about the number of his own MPs who asked unhelpful questions at the end of his statement.”