British prime minister Boris Johnson defended himself in the UK House of Commons on Monday against allegations he broke lockdown rules by attending parties during coronavirus restrictions, after civil servant Sue Gray published her long-awaited report.
Mr Johnson was told he was a “man without shame” by opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer, while SNP Westminister leader Ian Blackford accused him of having “wilfully misled” the House over the alleged parties.
Here are some of the best quotes from Monday afternoon:
“I get it, and I will fix it. I want to say to the people of this country, I know what the issue is” – prime minister Boris Johnson.
“You” – Labours MPs in response.
“The Prime Minister has told the House that all guidance was completely followed, there was no party, Covid rules were followed and that ‘I believed it was a work event’.
“Nobody, nobody believed it then. And nobody, nobody believes you now, Prime Minister. That is the crux – no ifs, no buts – he has wilfully misled Parliament.
“It’s not my fault if the Prime Minister can’t be trusted to tell the truth” – Ian Blackford, SNP Westminster Leader
“When he (Boris Johnson) kindly invited me to see him 10 days ago, I told him that I thought he should think very carefully about what was now in the best interests of our country and of the Conservative Party, and I have to tell him he no longer enjoys my support” – Andrew Mitchell MP, former Conservative minister
“Millions of people took seriously a communications campaign, apparently designed by behavioural psychologists to bully, to shame and to terrify them into compliance with minute restrictions on their freedom.
“What is my right honourable friend’s central message to those people who meticulously complied with all of the rules and suffered terribly for it, including, I might say, those people whose mental health will have suffered appallingly as a result of the messages his Government was sending out?” – Conservative MP Steve Baker
“Many had to bury their children alone, many couldn’t be there with them at the end. Meanwhile Number 10 partied.
“Does the Prime Minister understand, does he care, about the enormous hurt his actions have caused to bereaved families across our country? Will he finally accept that the only decent thing that he can do now is to resign?” – Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats
“Boris Johnson degrades our politics, he degrades his office, he tries to drag us all into the gutter” – Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party
“The report does absolutely nothing to substantiate the tissue of nonsense that he (Keir Starmer) has said. Absolute nonsense.
“Instead this leader of the opposition, a former director of public prosecution – who used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can see – he chose to use this moment to continually pre-judge a police inquiry” – Boris Johnson
“What the Gray report does show is that Number 10 Downing Street was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public, so either my right honourable friend had not read the rules or didn’t understand what they meant and others around him, or they didn’t think the rules applied to Number 10. Which was it?” – Theresa May, former prime minister
“He gleefully treats what should be a mark of shame as a welcome shield. But Prime Minister, the British public aren’t fools, they never believed a word of it, they think the Prime Minister should do the decent thing and resign.
“Of course he won’t because he is a man without shame and just as he has done throughout his life, he’s damaged everyone and everything around him along the way” – Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Opposition
“It seems a lot of people attended events in May 2020 – the one I recall attending was my grandmother’s funeral. She was a wonderful woman… I drove for three hours from Staffordshire to Kent, there were only 10 at the funeral, many people who loved her had to watch online.
“I didn’t hug my siblings, I didn’t hug my parents, I gave the eulogy and then afterwards I didn’t even go to her house for a cup of tea. I drove back three hours from Kent to Staffordshire. Does the Prime Minister think I’m a fool?” – Aaron Bell, Conservative MP
