British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be addressing parliament in a speech at around 1530 GMT today to apologize for breaking the lockdown regulations. This speech acts as a preface for the upcoming vote on whether he should get investigated over claims that he misled parliament by repeatedly insisting he did not breach the COVID-19 regulations.
After getting fined last week by the British police as a result of Johnson attending a birthday party for himself; Metropolitan police said the allegations of lockdown-breaking parties held by politicians and staff at the center of the British government had led to more than 50 fines they refer to as, penalty notices.
Since the initial claims of Johnson ignoring a quarantine protocol, opponents have been looking for Johnson to be removed from his position. However, many doubted the parliament would expunge Johnson from his seat following the Sue Gray investigation that concluded that “The Downing Street lockdown gatherings represented a “serious failure” and are “difficult to justify.”
The ministerial code states that knowingly misleading parliament is an offense that should result in resignation. However, the motion to vote out is unlikely to pass because Johnson still holds the support of most lawmakers in his Conservative Party and can still command a majority in parliament. One can hope that those voting in opposition to Johnson will highlight the issue of his ethics and his damaged public image.
Headlines of the war with Russia pushed titles involving Johnson’s scandal into the background; In his address to parliament later today, Johnson will seek to diffuse the influx of criticism since word of party-gate initially hit newsstands. Some topics include but are not limited to: the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, the handling of the Afghanistan crisis, and immigration.
