UK PM Boris Johnson confirms attending Downing Street lockdown party

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said sorry after admitting he attended a lockdown-breaching party that has the UK furious.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street For PMQ's on January 12 in London, England. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said sorry after admitting he attended a lockdown-breaching party in Downing Street, claiming he thought it was “a work event".

Breaking his silence over the latest of a slew of allegations regarding top-level misbehaviour, Johnson said he regarded the boozy get-together in May 2020 as a work event for Downing Street staff.

He added that he did not appreciate how it would look to millions of Britons who were respecting Covid rules, even missing out on farewells to dying relatives.

The event occurred when the government was ordering members of the public not to meet, even outdoors, and tight restrictions were in place on social mixing, including at funerals.

Police at the time fined those breaching the rules, and had the option to prosecute repeat or egregious offenders.

Humiliating PMQs for @BorisJohnson - and very telling unsupportive silence from most of his own MPs/ministers as opposition leaders all call for him to resign. He’s in big trouble. pic.twitter.com/aiplfvI0Zr

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 12, 2022

Johnson told parliament that millions of Britons had made “extraordinary sacrifices” during the first Covid lockdown in 2020 and while the party appeared to him to be a work event, he issued “heartfelt apologies”.

“And to them and to this House I offer my heartfelt apologies,” Johnson told a stormy session of questions in the House of Commons.

UK’s Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer raged at the “deceit”, saying Johnson's excuse “is so ridiculous that it is actually offensive”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking during Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs), in the House of Commons in London. Picture: PRU / AFP

Johnson was under fierce pressure to say whether he attended the boozy gathering in the garden of his Downing Street residence in May 2020, in the midst of the country’s first strict lockdown.

It follows a flurry of accusations about Downing Street parties held during lockdowns in 2020 which have dogged Johnson since late last year, sparking widespread public anger, sinking poll ratings and predictions he may have to resign -- even from his own MPs.

Sir Starmer demanded Johnson quit after the admission, saying “the party is over” and claimed the PM’s defence was “a “pathetic spectacle of a man who has run out of road”.

“The PM is a man without shame”, he said in parliament, recounting the story of girl’s father who died with Covid19.

“Do you understand why it makes her feel sick to think about the way you’ve behaved?”

The party is over @BorisJohnson.

Resign.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 12, 2022

It is way too late for Boris Johnson just to apologise, he missed that window on the first party. He has repeatedly lied to parliament about this. This is a breach of every code.

— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) January 12, 2022

Even some on his own side want Johnson to go, but in response to Starmer, he urged all sides to await the findings of an internal inquiry he has commissioned by a senior civil servant.

There have been a flurry of accusations about Downing Street parties held during lockdowns in 2020 which have dogged Johnson since late last year, sparking widespread public anger and sinking poll ratings.

The prime minister had stonewalled the issue since an email was leaked late Monday in which a senior aide invited more than 100 colleagues to the event on May 20, 2020, encouraging them to “bring your own booze”.

Both Johnson and his wife Carrie attended the gathering, according to anonymous witnesses quoted in the media, intensifying anger even among party colleagues.