The chairman of the Conservative Party says he was “disgusted” at the revelations that two parties were held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral and that a culture change is needed in Number 10.
Oliver Dowden told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme that he had been “angered” by the reports of events that took place at a time when COVID restrictions were in force, but that “Boris Johnson should, of course, remain as prime minister”.
His comments come after Tim Loughton became the sixth Conservative MP to publicly call for Boris Johnson to quit amid the ongoing “partygate scandal”.
Sixth Tory MP publicly calls for PM to resign
Mr Loughton, former children’s minister and East Worthing and Shoreham MP, said Mr Johnson’s position had become “untenable” and that his resignation would be “the only way to bring this whole unfortunate episode to an end”.
In a statement on social media, Mr Loughton added: "The reason for my conclusion in calling for him to stand down is the way that he has handled the mounting revelations in the last few weeks.
“Obfuscation, prevarication and evasion have been the order of the day when clarity, honesty and contrition was what was needed and what the British people deserve.”
The other Tory MPs calling for the PM to resign are former minister Caroline Nokes, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party Douglas Ross, Sir Roger Gale, Andrew Bridgen and William Wragg.
As the list of alleged lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street grows longer, Mr Johnson is reportedly preparing to strike back by ousting members of his inner circle.
Another senior Tory MP ‘appalled’ by Number 10 parties
Another senior Conservative MP, former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, told Sky News: “This is unforgivable, there is no question that what has been going on and the culture has become lazy and slack about what happens after hours, what happens in offices.”
Sir Iain added that “this is an appalling set of circumstances that should not have happened”.
Didn’t think it was bad enough for him to say Boris should resign though
So, just how much hypocrisy are you prepared to tolerate from your leader, on any issue, not just this one?
Who ?
me ?
Yes, why not.
He isn’t my leader, I cancelled my Conservative party membership in November last year.
Starmer is just as bad - he was having parities as well.
He is the nations leader, our global representative, regardless of anyone’s personal political leaning.
Don’t give a fig what Starmer is up to, he is not our representative at the moment.
Starmer represents the opposition, no matter how useless he is at it.
Overall I think the best person going forward would still be Boris Johnson provided he stops listening to his wife. I would prefer Steve Baker, but that’s not going to happen, we would most likely get Jeremy Hunt if Boris quit (which he won’t) who would send us back into the EU.
Of course Boris won’t quit, and maybe the best of the bunch at the moment, but that is not the issue here, folks are fickle, so, time will tell, but, there is lots on the record.
Why would we choose someone worse than Boris Johnson to run the country ?
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, Mr Dowden, Chairman of the Conservative Party, was asked whether further disclosure should be expected.
He said: ‘I speak to the Prime Minister all the time, including before this, and to the best of my knowledge and the Government, this is the full extent of it.
A probable entry for the “famous last words” category … 
There’s someone worse than Boris Johnson? 
Ha ha good point Maree 
As Status Quo once sang.
O-o-o-oh the water’s getting deep
And I can’t swim because it’s dirty, dirty water
One of Starmers parties was at his house and not in his garden. Section 73 of the Public health Act (control of disease), states that COVID regulations do not apply to Crown Land (which includes Number 10 Downing Street). This came about in the 80s when lawmakers decided that it would be best for the government to function during any pandemic without having to worry about quarantine rules.
So, if we are to “split hairs” and look into the technicalities, Boris Johnson did nothing wrong (in the eyes of the law) but Starmer did - his house is not Common Land.
I know this doesn’t wash with the public and its no excuse, but while we are on one of Omahs never ending Boris bashing threads, I just thought I would point this out.
I suspect that this is the reason that the police are not investigating because a crime was not committed but never-the-less the Labour Party and the Conservatives (and the Civil Service) are all as bad as each other when it comes to these parties, except of course the party on the 20th April where Boris was at Chequers recovering from his COVID near death experience under doctors orders.