In his speech in the House of Commons yesterday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that he attended a drinking party held in the garden of the Prime Minister’s Residence on May 20, 2020, while the coronavirus restrictions continued in his country, and apologized. Pressure is mounting for Johnson to resign.
British newspapers gave wide coverage to the striking developments in the country’s politics in their current issues.
Newspapers were united in the opinion that difficult days await Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
GuardianToday’s headline is “The future of the Prime Minister is on the edge after he apologized for the party in the Prime Ministry”.
The newspaper writes that senior figures of the ruling Conservative Party in England called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign due to the violation of coronavirus restrictions.
Johnson said he attended the drinking party thinking it was a business event. The Guardian states that the prime minister was mocked for these words.
On the first page of the newspaper are the words of Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labor Party:
“People think Boris Johnson is totally lying by looking them in the eye.”
Financial Times newspaper also carried the resignation calls from some of the Conservative Party leaders, of which Boris Johnson is the leader, in its headline.
The newspaper states that lawmakers did not accept Johnson’s apology.
According to the Financial Times, it’s only a matter of time before the Conservative Party gets a no-confidence vote on Johnson.
The Conservative Party has 360 deputies. In order for such a vote to be held for Johnson in the party, 15 percent of these deputies, that is, 54 percent, must submit their voting demands to the party administration.
If the vote is taken and results in the prime minister’s defeat, Boris Johnson will have to resign. In the event of Johnson’s victory, a similar vote cannot be held in the Conservative Party for a year.
times According to the newspaper, despite apologizing, Boris Johnson remains defiant and rejects calls for his resignation.
The newspaper highlighted the following sentence that Johnson said while addressing the lawmakers:
“We don’t deserve criticism.”
The point that the Times draws attention to is that the public support of the Conservative Party is getting worse. The newspaper states that the ruling party fell to the lowest level since December 2013 against the Labor Party.
The Labor Party is 10 points ahead of the Conservative Party, according to an opinion poll by the YouGov company. Moreover, the research was conducted before Prime Minister Johnson apologized.
60 percent of the voters who participated in the survey think that Johnson should resign. 38 percent of those who voted for the Conservative Party in the last election also want Johnson’s resignation.
On the other hand, 78 percent of the public think that the Prime Minister is not honest when answering questions about the allegations that parties were held at the Prime Minister’s Residence during the coronavirus restrictions.
Daily Telegraph newspaper’s headline was “The Altar has left Johnson in limbo”.
The newspaper draws attention to the fact that Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said that Johnson did the right thing by apologizing, but did not fully support the prime minister like other cabinet members.
The strongest candidates for leadership in the Conservative Party for a possible post-Johnson era are Rishi Sunak and Secretary of State Liz Truss.
With the headline “Operation to save Boris” Daily Mailpoints out that Liz Truss gave “full support” to the prime minister.
However, according to the newspaper, “ambitious” Finance Minister Sunak’s “reluctant” support of the prime minister is a harbinger of a difficult period ahead for the Conservative Party.
The harshest criticism of Boris Johnson is again Daily Mirror It’s from the newspaper.
The headline of the newspaper, “Disgrace”.
The Daily Mirror, which says “People are very angry” on its first page, expresses its reaction to Prime Minister Johnson with the following lines:
“At first, Johnson said that no rules were violated. Then he stated that he did not know that a party was held at the Prime Minister’s Residence. Now he admits that he joined one of these parties, but says he did not understand that the event he was a part of was a party. Our Prime Minister is a complete disgrace.”