He made these statements in a television appearance before the publication of his memoirs.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson He said this Friday that he regretted having apologized for the parties held in Downing Street during the covid pandemic, better known as Partygate, which cost him his resignation.
In his first television appearance a few days after the publication of his political memoirs, Johnson commented that, when apologizing, he considered that he had “inadvertently” validated all the accusations towards various government officials who were affected by the scandal, and that he did not It had been “fair” to them.
“Do you regret asking the queen for forgiveness?”asked ITV journalist Tom Bradby, to which the former premier refused to respond, saying that he was not going to talk about his conversations with the late monarch Elizabeth II.
The ITV presenter also mentioned a leaked email from Johnson’s then private secretary, Martin Reynolds, in which he invited more than 100 people to a “socially distanced” drinks party in the courtyard of his official residence; To which Johnson said that he did not believe that the officials thought they were breaking the rules and that they were working around the clock.
“The reason the Downing Street garden was used was because it was thought to be a much safer environment and we had to keep our distance,” he added.
Johnson, who came to power with an absolute majority in December 2019, singled out his predecessor David Cameron for resigning after Brexit and criticized him for not having a subsequent plan: “It is not normal for the prime minister, after having requested a referendum vote, to suddenly leave the stage”.
Likewise, the former Conservative leader did not close the door to a possible return to the front line of British politics, stating that the possibilities were as good as “being reincarnated in an olive tree, being blinded by a champagne cork, being locked in a disused refrigerator or being decapitated by a Frisbee”.
Johnson uttered the same cryptic phrase in 2015, after being asked if he would like to succeed David Cameron as prime minister.
On the other hand, he avoided answering questions such as who is his favorite candidate for the US elections, or who he prefers as the next leader of the Conservative Party – although he hinted that Robert Jenrick – or who had been the worst prime minister, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.
The former leader of the British conservatives will publish on October 10 his political memoirs, Unleashed, of more than 700 pages, which began to be published in installments last Friday in the Daily Mail with some controversial statements about his plans to invade Netherlands to recover doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine during the pandemic.
Johnson was scheduled to give his first television statements this Thursday on the BBC, but the interview was finally canceled after journalist Laura Kuenssberg mistakenly sent questions to the former prime minister before broadcast.
