Johnson faces calls to quit after lockdown party apology

PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has apologised for attending a “bring your own booze” party during the first coronavirus lockdown.

He told MPs the event in the Downing Street garden was “technically within the rules” but he should have realised how it would look to the public.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the PM must now quit over what he called his “ridiculous” lies and excuses.

Mr Johnson is also under pressure from his own MPs over the May 2020 party.

During Wednesday’s (January 12) Prime Minister’s Questions, as Mr Johnson admitted he had been at the Downing Street party on 20 May 2020 for about 25 minutes, so that he could “thank groups of staff” for their hard work.

He said: “I believed implicitly that this was a work event.” But he added: “With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside…”

Mr Johnson urged MPs to wait for the outcome of an inquiry by senior civil servant Sue Gray into alleged Covid law-breaking in Downing Street, which he said “will report as soon as possible”.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said that if Mr Johnson had “no sense of shame”, then the Tory backbenchers “must act to remove him”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also called on the PM to resign.