Boris Johnson has never been a brilliant parliamentarian, but he has managed to survive tense sessions in the House of Commons thanks to his jokes and a certain histrionics encouraged by the conservative caucus. Until this Wednesday. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom faces the toughest appearance he has ever had to make in Westminster. The scandal of the prohibited parties in Downing Street, while the entire country suffered a severe confinement due to the pandemic, has destroyed with dizzying speed the reduced credibility that the conservative politician could still maintain. 56% of citizens, according to the latest survey of YouGov, wants Johnson to resign. But what is much more serious and revealing, according to the same survey, is that 34% of the members of the Conservative Party believe that their leader should step aside and let someone else take the reins of the formation. 38% of them consider that, as prime minister, he has not performed his job well.
Many conservative deputies have demanded, in the hours prior to Johnson’s appearance in the control session of the House of Commons, that the prime minister apologize in a clear and forceful way for everything that happened, if he does not want to avoid a rebellion in the ranks of his parliamentary group. Although not even an apology can be enough to correct a chain of alleged lies that has precipitated the disaster. Up to five times the Prime Minister has ensured that the rules and recommendations, in terms of social restrictions, imposed by his own Government to deal with the pandemic, were complied with in Downing Street. And now it is more than evident, from the statements of several witnesses, that Johnson and his then-girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, participated last May 20 in a Downing Street garden party in which there were more than forty guests, with alcohol , food and desire to party. Just at a time when the rest of the British were prohibited from meeting more than two people from different addresses outdoors.
Johnson has taken refuge in the official investigation into all the parties held at that time in his government dependencies – up to six of them – which is being directed by Sue Gray, the permanent deputy secretary of the Cabinet Office and number two in the organizational chart of the civil administration of the United Kingdom. With a reputation for being serious and tough, it is very likely that the conclusions of his investigations, which should end in a few days, will make heads roll in Downing Street. But for Johnson’s staunchest critics, that investigation is no longer enough. The prime minister, he assures, must stop hiding behind administrative procedures and openly admit his presence at a party that took place in the garden of his own residence.
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