Although the scandal surfaced last week, the disclosure the day before on the ITV channel of a video in which several aides of the conservative ruler, including his then spokeswoman, Allegra Stratton, are observed, and heard, laugh and make jokes on the alleged celebration he added fuel to the fire.
In the images, which were apparently recorded during a press conference rehearsal, one of the attendees asks him if the prime minister approves of Christmas parties during quarantine, to which Stratton laughs, “And what do I answer to that?”
Then you hear another person say “that it was not a party, because there was only cheese and wine,” and then she comments: “Is it correct to say cheese and wine? It was a work meeting… without social distancing. “
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Johnson offered his heartfelt apologies for the images that are the talk of the day in the UK, saying he ordered an investigation into whether quarantine rules were violated at a party he claims not to have held. knowledge.
I can understand the anger that comes from thinking that the people in charge of establishing the rules do not respect them, because those images also bothered me a lot, he said.
Minutes after Johnson’s speech in the House of Commons, Stratton became the first victim of the scandal, resigning from his current position as spokesman for the COP26 climate summit that he had held since the middle of the year.
I will regret those comments for the rest of my life, and I offer you my deepest apologies, said the former aide to the British Prime Minister tearfully.
It is unlikely, however, that Stratton’s resignation and Johnson’s apologies will manage to quell criticism against the Conservative leader, vituperated for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, and who still grapples with various corruption scandals within the ruling party. .
In addition to the qualifications of a liar that the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer, gave him on Wednesday, the spokesman for the Scottish National Party in Parliament, Ian Blackord, openly asked him to resign, after alleging that the prime minister lost the confidence of the public and lacks the capacity to lead the country.
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