UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the brink of exit
The Labour Party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner has also reiterated her call for Johnson to resign, saying the prime minister “needs to go.”
So far, fewer than the 54 lawmakers required to trigger a confidence vote have called on him to resign.
Johnson is accused of breaking his own Government's lockdown rules, which has infuriated the British people, some of whom have called for his immediate resignation.
Police investigation
London’s Metropolitan (Met) Police announced on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, that it has launched an investigation into a “number of events” held at British Prime Minister Johnson’s Downing Street residence despite COVID-19 restrictions.
The Met Police will look into potential breaches of COVID regulations in 2020 and 2021, when England had social distancing rules in place.
On Monday, January 24, 2022, British media outlet ITV reported that Johnson had attended a surprise party on his birthday in 2020, when COVID restrictions were in place. The broadcaster alleged that up to 30 people were at the gathering in the Cabinet Room of No. 10 Downing Street.
“I can confirm that the Met is now investigating a number of events that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in the last two years in relation to potential breaches of COVID-19 regulations,” Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
Internal gov't probe
There is already an internal government probe, led by senior civil servant Sue Gray, into alleged gatherings at the prime minister’s residence.
The Cabinet Office — essentially, the office of the prime minister — announced on Tuesday that Gray’s inquiry would still continue despite the police investigation; the publication of the final report, however, will be delayed.
Under lockdown laws in place in England at the time of the alleged gatherings, indoor social meetings were forbidden.
Johnson has already admitted to attending a garden party in May of last year, but he said he believed it was a “work event” and claimed nobody had told him it was “against the rules” that his own government had issued.
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