Boris Johnson apologizes in Parliament for attending a party in Downing Street during lockdown

Boris Johnson has had to swallow the bitter drink of his political career at once. "I want to apologize," he told the House of Commons on Wednesday. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom admitted that he was at the forbidden party in Downing Street on May 20, assumed responsibility for what happened, assured that he understood the anger of the citizens and asked that the conclusion of the internal investigation on what happened. But, in his usual line, he has performed a dialectical pirouette to try to swim and put away his clothes. “I went out to the garden to thank the staff for their work during those months, and after twenty-five minutes, I returned to my office. Now I understand that I should have ordered everyone to go back inside and find another way to thank them ”, said the prime minister.Johnson has assured that at all times he thought it was a work meeting, protected by the exceptions to the social restrictions then in force. The response of the leader of the Labor opposition was extremely crude: “What is your defense? That I didn't know it was a party. It is so ridiculous that it is offensive to citizens. When are you going to do the only decent thing: resign? ”Demanded Starmer.

Boris Johnson has never been a brilliant parliamentarian, but he has managed to survive tense sessions in the House of Commons thanks to his jokes and a certain histrionics cheered by the conservative caucus. Until this Wednesday. The UK Prime Minister was facing the harshest appearance he has ever had to make at Westminster. The scandal of the forbidden parties in Downing Street, while the whole country suffered a severe confinement by the pandemic, has destroyed with dizzying speed the reduced credibility that the conservative politician could still maintain. 56% of citizens, according to the latest

, wants Johnson to resign. But what is much more serious and revealing, according to that same survey, is that 34% of the members of the Conservative Party believe that their leader should step aside and let someone else take the reins of the formation. 38% of them consider that, as prime minister, he has not done his job well.

Many conservative MPs had demanded, in the hours before Johnson's appearance in the control session of the House of Commons, that the prime minister apologize in a clear and forceful way for everything that happened, if he did not want to avoid a rebellion in the ranks of his parliamentary group. Although not even an apology can be enough to mend a chain of alleged lies that has precipitated the disaster. Up to five times the prime minister has assured that the rules and recommendations were complied with in Downing Street, regarding social restrictions, imposed by his own government to deal with the pandemic. And now it is more than evident, from the statements of various witnesses, that Johnson and his then-girlfriend, Carrie Symonds,they participated last May 20 in a party in the Downing Street garden in which there were more than 40 guests, with alcohol, food and a desire to party. Just at a time when the rest of the British were prohibited from allowing more than two people from different addresses to meet outside.

Johnson has shielded himself in the official investigation into all the parties held at that time in his Government offices - up to six of them - which is being directed by Sue Gray, the permanent deputy secretary of the Cabinet Office and number two on the organization chart of the civil administration of the United Kingdom. With a reputation for being serious and tough, it is very likely that the conclusions of his investigations, which should be completed in a few days, will make heads roll in Downing Street. But for Johnson's most staunch critics, such research is no longer enough. The prime minister, he assures, must stop hiding himself in administrative procedures and admit, openly, - as he has finally done - his presence at a party that took place in the garden of his own residence.

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