UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he was taking “full responsibility” for the Downing Street concerts that broke lockdown rules during the Covid-19 outbreak, after an internal report was published condemning him as called the “Partygate” scandal.
He told MPs: “I bear full responsibility for everything that happened in front of my eyes”, noting that the report calls for political leaders and officials to “take ultimate responsibility, and this is certainly relevant.” However, he has shown no signs of responding to calls to resign over the case.
He also stressed that he was absent from most of these parties and denied that he had lied to parliament. “Many of these events could not have been allowed to happen,” said senior civil servant Sue Gray, who prepared the report, referring to a number of parties attended by senior officials who violated lockdown rules. The report states that “responsibility for this culture must be borne by leaders, whether political or official.”
Gray posted photos of Johnson drinking wine with staff and talked about parties that sometimes lasted until the early hours of the morning, during which music was played from a karaoke machine.
She said that some of the Downing Street security and cleaning staff were laughed at when they tried to protest the behavior of the staff. The message came at a time when another picture published by the Daily Mirror newspaper showed a table in Downing Street (the residence of the British Prime Minister) filled with wine and donuts. She said it was accompanied by a WhatsApp message addressed to employees saying, “It’s time to lift the Covid safety barrier.”
