LONDON, Jan 13 — Britons in London on Wednesday called for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to step down after he apologised in parliament for attending a drinks gathering in his Downing Street office during lockdown.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer and even members of his own party have called for him to resign after he admitted to attending the event in Downing Street’s garden during Britain’s first lockdown in May 2020, and there was little sympathy on the streets of the British capital.
“It was a forced apology. It seems, from everything I can see, that Mr Johnson broke the rules when the rest of the us had to obey those rules at some personal cost,” said tour guide Antony Robbins.
“I think there’s no conclusion other than for Mr Johnson to do the right thing and to resign,” he added.
Vicar Majorie Brown said that Johnson had lost his “moral right” to lead as voters “no longer believe that the people that govern you are going to tell you the truth.”
The furious reaction “shows something about the British character, which is a belief in fair play and that double standards are extremely unacceptable,” added another man, who wished to remain anonymous.
“One rule for them, another rule for us. It is that, which has made the British people so angry and will probably prove fatal now to Boris Johnson,” he added. — AFP
