Boris Johnson apologises for Downing Street party during grilling by MPs
Boris Johnson has apologised over a party held at Downing Street during the first coronavirus lockdown, as he faced MPs at Prime Minister's Questions.
In a heated session in parliament on Wednesday, opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on Johnson to resign.
It comes amid public and political fury over the latest allegations that the prime minister and his staff flouted lockdown restrictions by having a party in May 2020.
Watch PMQs back as it happened in the video player above.
It's claimed that dozens of Johnson's staff, as well as the prime minister himself along with his wife, attended the event in the Downing Street garden during the first coronavirus lockdown, at a time when social mixing was banned.
Appearing before MPs, Boris Johnson admitting attending the drinks party, saying he was there for 25 minutes and "thought it was only a work event".
Starmer described the event as "offensive to the British public", who were obeying lockdown rules while the prime minister and his staff were "holding boozy parties in Downing Street". He called on Johnson to "do the decent thing, and resign".
The prime minister accused the opposition leader of making a political point, saying he would not pre-empt the outcome of the current internal inquiry. A senior civil servant is investigating reports that Johnson's staff held several social events during lockdowns.
The leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in parliament, Ian Blackford, accused Boris Johnson of "betraying the nation's trust" and "treating the public with contempt".
As well as opposition figures, even some within Johnson's own ruling Conservative Party have called on him to quit — and his answers will be closely scrutinised.
According to ITV News, Johnson's
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