'The guy is a shit.'
Disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has never been known to accept responsibility or to tell the truth, character traits which eventually led to his downfall as Prime Minister.
And now Johnson has caused yet more fury and condemnation, after saying that he regretted apologising over Partygate.
Johnson made the comments during an interview with ITV, following publication of his new memoir ‘Unleashed’. Johnson claimed in his new book that he thought apologising was a “mistake” which “made it look as though we were far more culpable than we were”.
The partygate scandal, in which Johnson and other Downing Street officials broke Covid regulations which they themselves had imposed on the rest of the country, while taking part in a number of parties across 10 Downing Street and other government buildings over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, violating legal restrictions on gatherings, eventually led to Johnson’s downfall.
ITV News’ Tom Bradby asked Johnson: “You basically say, ‘It wasn’t a big deal. I regret apologising.’ Is that really your position?”
Johnson replied: “no, no, no”.
He was then asked if he regretted apologising to the Queen for parties held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, a question he refused to answer.
Regarding the claim in his memoir that apologising over partygate was a mistake, Johnson went on to add: “What I was trying to say there was, I think that the blanket apology – the sort of apology I issued right at the beginning – I think the trouble with it was that afterwards, all the accusations that then rained down on officials who’d been working very hard in Number 10 and elsewhere were thought to be true.
“And by apologising I had sort of inadvertently validated the entire corpus and it wasn’t fair on those people.”
His comments caused condemnation, with one social media user writing: “Boris Johnson says he regrets apologising for Partygate.
“My mum died all alone in hospital during lockdown. We followed the rules.
“The same day they were smuggling suitcases full of booze into Downing Street.
“And he regrets apologising. The guy is a shit.”
Another added: “Boris says regrets apologising for partygate as the backlash wasn’t fair on his hard working officials
“A complete & utter selfish prick who has never taken an ounce of responsibility in his life
“He has zero shame, no respect for people’s loss during covid & the sacrifices made.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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