Scottish Tory leader Ross Douglas calls for Boris Johnson to resign
The leader of Scottish Tory party has called for Boris Johnson to resign as his premiership comes under increasing threat over the Downing Street parties scandal.
Ross has told Sky News that Johnson has to go as Prime Minister after admitting today that a lockdown-busting party happened on 20 May 2020 in the Downing Street garden.
Johnson apologised for the event today, but said that he did not realise that it was not a work meeting when he attended for 25 minutes.
It comes after Ross yesterday said Johnson would have to resign if it was proven that he attended the party, which happened when the government had banned people meeting up with more than one person that was not in their household.
The Scottish Tory leader said Johnson’s position was “no longer tenable”.
“He is the Prime Minister, it is his government that put these rules in place, and he has to be held to account for his actions,” he said.
“I spoke to the Prime Minister this afternoon and I set out my reasons an I explained to him my position.”
In a grovelling apology to the House of Commons today, Johnson said he knew “the rage [people] feel with me and with the government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules were not being properly followed by the people who make the rules”.
“When I went into that garden just after 6 on the 20th of may 2020 to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 mins later to continue working, I believed implicitly this was a work event,” he said at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
“With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside, I should have found some other way to thank them.”
The latest in a series of allegations about illegal parties came on Monday when ITV published a leaked email which revealed details of a “bring your own booze” party on 20 May in the Downing Street garden.
A Number 10 spokesperson insisted that Johnson never received this email and never knew the event was not a work meeting.
Some Tory MPs are in open revolt, with Bury South MP Christian Wakeford saying he cannot “defend the indefensible”, adding that “it’s embarrassing and what’s worse is it further erodes trust in politics”.
Sir Roger Gale told the BBC that Johnson is a “dead man walking”.
Tory Plymouth Moor MP Jonny Mercer said the whole thing was “humiliating”.