UK PM Boris Johnson refuses to do the 'decent thing' & resign! - as 'partygate' inquiry findings loom

LONDON, United Kingdom- A stubborn British Prime Minister Alexander Boris Johnson de Pfeffel Johnson has refused to resign, even after facing renewed calls to do the "decent thing" and quit over the scandal surrounding Downing Street parties that were organised during a nation-wide lockdown in the United Kingdom.

The embattled Prime Minister on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, rejected opposition calls to resign but accepted that a rule that ministers should lose their jobs if they had knowingly misled parliament applied to him.

Johnson is braced for the publication of an official investigation into claims that there were multiple boozy Downing Street parties during lockdowns. He told parliament no rules were broken.

It is unclear when the results of that investigation by Cabinet Office official Sue Gray would be published, especially as police have opened their own investigation.

Misleading Parliament

Asked by the opposition Labour Party Keir R. Starmer leader if the ministerial code, which says that ministers who had knowingly misled parliament should offer to resign, applied to him Johnson said: “Of course.”

“If he’d misled parliament, he must resign,” Starmer told parliament. “Will you now resign?”

“No,” Johnson, who has faced allegations of corruption and deadly mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, replied.

He said he could not speak about investigations into the alleged parties. Johnson said his government was focused on driving economic growth and leading the Western response to the Ukraine crisis.