Boris Johnson issued a shame-faced apology while appearing in the Commons for the first time since being fined for breaking his own lockdown law, Metro.co.uk reports. In a bruising session, one of his own senior MPs told the prime minister to his face that he should resign formally called for a leadership election.
Johnson was grilled one week after being issued with a fixed penalty notice for attending a birthday party thrown for him in Downing Street in June 2020. He was fined by the Metropolitan Police along with chancellor Rishi Sunak and wife Carrie Symonds for celebrating in the cabinet room while the country was under orders not to socialise.
Supporters have rallied around him in recent days, with one cabinet minister likening the breach to getting a speeding ticket this morning, but the PM remains in political peril.
Johnson was jeered by some MPs as he arrived late after being delayed by an anti-vaxxer protest and began his statement on Ukraine by addressing the scandal.
He said: “I payed the fine immediately and offered the British people a full apology. I take this opportunity on the first available sitting day to repeat my whole-hearted apology to the House. As soon as I received the notice [from the Met] I acknowledged the hurt and the anger and said that people had a right to expect better of their prime minister and I repeat that again now.”
