“Friday aperitifs” lengthen the list of scandals targeting Boris Johnson

Pots were organized every Friday in Downing Street during confinement, the newspaper The Mirror said on Saturday, lengthening the list of accusations against British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is increasingly contested, including within his party.

Stuck in a “partygate”, the 57-year-old conservative is openly criticized in his majority and faces his worst crisis since coming to power in July 2019. He apologized to Parliament on Wednesday for his presence at one of these parties in May 2020 saying he thought it was a business meeting.

But since then, other revelations have arisen, including a party in Downing Street – without Boris Johnson – on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021. Elizabeth II attended her husband’s funeral alone in the chapel of the castle of Windsor, a symbolic image of the rigor of confinements.

On Saturday, the Mirror claims that every Friday Downing Street workers ended their working week by sharing glasses of wine, a ‘long-standing tradition’ which has continued despite the introduction of Covid-related restrictions prohibiting this type of met.

The newspaper adds that the staff had invested in a fridge to keep their bottles of alcohol cool and that the Prime Minister was aware of these gatherings.

A spokesperson for Downing Street referred to the conclusions of an investigation led by a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, who will have to determine whether Boris Johnson and his collaborators broke the rules during these various events.

– Calls for resignation –

But anger is brewing, including in the conservative ranks. MP Andrew Bridgen said on SkyNews on Saturday that he “does not need to wait for what Sue Gray says to know that for me, Boris Johnson has lost the moral authority to lead the country”.

Another MP from the same side, Tobias Ellwood, said that if Boris Johnson could not lead by example he should “stand down”.

Other Tory parliamentarians testified to receiving a flood of mail from disgruntled voters.

At least five Tory MPs have publicly said they sent letters to the “1922 committee” asking for a vote of no confidence. To dislodge Boris Johnson, they would have to be at least 54 Tory deputies.

Boris Johnson has launched the counterattack designed to hold on to power. Newspapers have reported that his backers have been called in to tout his achievements, including delivering Brexit, and that some of his aides will be asked to leave.

Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer repeated his call for the resignation on Saturday, saying it was in the “national interest”, during an address to left-wing think tank The Fabian Society. His party took a ten-point lead over the Tories this week in two opinion polls.

Boris Johnson is “literally in hiding right now” Mr Starmer said of the Tory leader, who is currently self-isolating after a family member tested positive for Covid.

But Mr Starmer has himself been accused of hypocrisy over photos showing him having a beer with a small group of Labor workers in an office last May, at a time when indoor meetings were banned, except in the professional context.

His party assured that Keir Starmer had not broken any rules because he was at a “workplace”.

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