Prime Minister Boris Johnson has apologised to MPs after he became the first UK leader to receive a fine for breaking the law, but faced opposition calls to quit for the sake of integrity in politics:
, he reiterated that he did not think he had done anything wrong when he attended an office gathering for his birthday in June 2020, when Britain was under a pandemic lockdown.The British public "had a right to expect better of their prime minister", Mr Johnson added, while insisting he would get on with the job including to defend Ukraine against Russia's "barbaric" invasion.
Mr Starmer recounted the experience of one member of the public who, because of the COVID-19 rules then in place, was denied the chance to hold his dying wife's hand in hospital. "Overall, 'partygate' dominates views of Boris over Ukraine," said James Johnson, a Conservative pollster who conducted the sample.
A demonstrator poses for a photograph holding a placard calling for the resignation Boris Johnson, as they protest outside the entrance to 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the UK prime minister, in central London on 13 April, 2022.A drubbing for the Conservatives then could sharpen the debate among his own MPs, some of whom have said that now is not the time to change leader given the war in Ukraine.
But one senior Tory backbencher, Mark Harper, responded to Mr Johnson in the Commons that he was "no longer... worthy" of being prime minister after his apology.
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