U.K. leader Boris Johnson faces calls to resign over “bring your own booze” garden party during COVID lockdown – By Tucker Reals (CBS News) / January 12, 2022
Wednesday brings the time-honored tradition of “Prime Minister’s Question Time” in the British Parliament, when the U.K. Prime Minister must stand before his fellow elected lawmakers and answer their questions. It’s weekly political theater that normally generates a few headlines, but this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has some very serious questions to answer.
Opposition Leader Kier Starmer is sure to ask, for instance, why Johnson’s right-hand man invited around 100 people to the PM’s official residence, Number 10 Downing Street, for a “bring your own booze” garden party in May of 2020, when Britons were under strict coronavirus lockdown measures and such gatherings were illegal.
The rules in England were clear enough during that lockdown: No indoor mixing of households whatsoever, and outdoors, people were permitted to meet only one member of another household, provided social distancing was maintained. The invitation purportedly emailed from Johnson’s Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds to as many as 100 people, which has been seen by the BBC and other major U.K. news outlets, did say the outdoor gathering would be socially distanced, but clearly more than two people from two different households were expected.
