Boris should go now!
COUNCIL’S DEPUTY LEADER OF CONSERVATIVES SAYS PM’S BEHAVIOUR ‘UNACCEPTABLE’
A LEADING Conservative on Kirklees Council has reiterated his call for the Prime Minister to resign over partygate.
Clr John Taylor, the deputy leader of the Conservative group who represents Kirkburton ward, took to Twitter back in January and said Boris Johnson’s actions in breaching Covid lockdown rules were “unacceptable”. He added: “He should go now.”
Three months later a dogged Mr Johnson has apologised and said he will not step aside, saying instead he expects to fight the next general election as Tory leader.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Clr Taylor if his opinion had changed since January 12.
He replied: “I remain of the view that given the extent of the breaches of the Covid restrictions that occurred in Downing Street, it is inappropriate for Boris Johnson to remain as our Prime Minister.
“He should accept the responsibility for these breaches and step aside.”
He added: “That said I do not feel that the fine he has been issued with for the ‘birthday’ event was a significant breach and can understand why at the time it was not viewed as such and was in fact reported, with no comment or criticism, the following day in the Times newspaper.
“Clearly at the time it was not felt that it was a breach, but with hindsight a different view has been taken.”
Clr Taylor referenced other politicians including Labour leader
Sir Keir Starmer and First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon who, he said, had similarly made “errors of judgement and breached rules” but have not been fined or called on to resign.
Mr Johnson was fined last week by police for breaking Covid laws. He has been accused of lying to Parliament after he previously told MPs that no rules had been broken.
Between May 2020 and April 2021 more than a dozen gatherings are understood to have taken place in Downing Street.
On June 19 2020 around 30 people attended a party in the Cabinet Room at Number 10 for Mr Johnson’s birthday. At the time restrictions banned most indoor gatherings of more than two people. It is as a result of that gathering that Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie Symonds and the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, received fixed penalty notices, which they have paid.
On Tuesday Mr Johnson apologised for his actions in a statement in the House of Commons. That “fulsome” apology has led to local Conservative MPs Mark Eastwood (Dewsbury) and Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) to back the Prime Minister, saying he should not lose his job over partygate.
■■MPs vote to open Partygate probe – see National and World page