For Johnson, this is a painful defeat. That morning, he had expressed the hope that his group would force a postponement of the decision. But apparently his own deputies thwarted his plans. Some of his party colleagues even asked for his resignation. Even Arch-Brexiteer Steve Baker said he would vote in favor of the inquiry and asked Johnson to step down. “The prime minister must be gone by now,” he said.
Johnson, who was visiting India on Thursday, immediately rejected this. “I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” he said in an interview with Sky News, in which he was clearly nervous.
Following reports of illegal lockdown parties in London’s Downing Street during the pandemic, Johnson repeatedly protested in Parliament that the rules were always followed. It was later discovered that the prime minister himself had attended several of the meetings in question. In the meantime, he still had to pay a fine imposed by the police because he let his employees celebrate his birthday with a cake. More could go on. Johnson now takes the position that he didn’t realize there were celebrations.
In the UK, lying to Parliament is considered a reason for government members to resign. If the committee finds that Johnson lied, it would be extremely sensitive. Before starting the investigation, however, one must wait for the end of the police investigation.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of abusing the culture of debate in the lower house. According to the rules, deputies cannot accuse each other of lying. Unusually, President Lindsay Hoyle temporarily suspended this rule for Thursday’s debate. “The prime minister has stood before this chamber and said things that are not true, counting on not being accused of lying because that is not allowed,” Starmer said Thursday during the debate.
Public opinion seems to have judged Johnson’s sincerity a long time ago. Nearly 80% of British voters believe Johnson lied. This is the result of a poll by the Yougov polling institute on behalf of Times Radio, which was published on Thursday. Thus, only eight percent of voters believe in the Conservative head of government. Even among supporters of Johnson’s Conservatives, a clear majority (61%) are convinced he was a fake. 2,079 Britons of voting age were surveyed on 19 and 20 April.