UK’s Boris Johnson faces one other lockdown get together allegation as he fights for job

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Britain’s Boris Johnson was preventing to shore up his premiership on Monday after his workplace mentioned his birthday in 2020 was marked by a gathering in Downing Street, including gasoline to an investigation into authorities events throughout Covid-19 lockdowns.

Johnson, who in 2019 gained the most important Conservative majority in additional than 30 years, is dealing with a raft of allegations that he and his employees partied throughout the worst pandemic for a century and a grievance of racist discrimination in his get together.

The new allegation come simply days earlier than an official investigation by Cabinet Office official Sue Gray into the lockdown events is because of be revealed later this week.

ITV News mentioned as much as 30 individuals attended the June 2020 birthday occasion, throughout the first Covid lockdown, in 10 Downing Street, his central London workplace and residence. Social gatherings indoors have been banned on the time. The prime minister was believed to have been offered with a cake whereas his spouse led employees in a refrain of pleased birthday, it mentioned.

Johnson’s workplace disputed that it was a celebration, telling ITV: “A group of staff working in No. 10 that day gathered briefly in the Cabinet Room after a meeting to wish the prime minister a happy birthday.”

“He was there for less than 10 minutes,” it mentioned.

ITV mentioned there was one other gathering in Downing Street the night earlier than his birthday. Johnson’s workplace mentioned that was “totally untrue”.

Johnson has given quite a lot of explanations in regards to the earlier previous no guidelines of events: first he mentioned no guidelines had been damaged however then he apologised to the British individuals for the obvious hypocrisy of such gatherings. Police officers who guard Downing Street have been interviewed by Gray and have given “extremely damning” proof, the Telegraph newspaper reported, citing an unidentified supply.

“Johnson has completely lost his authority,” Nick Timothy, who served as Downing Street chief of employees to Johnson’s Conservative predecessor Theresa May, wrote within the Telegraph. “The collapse in Johnson’s authority is causing widespread political dysfunction and further danger for the Conservatives,” he mentioned. “Johnson is no longer popular, he is no longer powerful.”

Johnson has denied an allegation that he was informed a “bring your own booze” lockdown gathering on May 20, 2020, which he says he thought was a piece occasion, was inappropriate. His former senior adviser Dominic Cummings — now a harsh critic — mentioned on Monday he was answering questions from Gray in writing.

Discrimination grievance

Toppling Johnson would depart Britain in limbo for months simply because the West offers with the Ukraine disaster and the world’s fifth largest financial system grapples with a once-in-a-generation inflationary wave. To set off a management problem, 54 of the 359 Conservative MPs in parliament should submit letters of no confidence. Leading rivals throughout the Conservative Party embrace Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, 41, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, 46.

Former UK transport minister Nusrat Ghani (Twitter: @Nus_Ghani)

Johnson on Monday ordered an inquiry into by a lawmaker who mentioned she was fired from a ministerial job within the authorities partly as a result of her Muslim religion was making colleagues uncomfortable.

Nusrat Ghani, 49, who misplaced her job as a junior transport minister in February 2020, informed the Sunday Times that she had been informed by a “whip” — an enforcer of parliamentary self-discipline — that her “Muslimness” had been raised as a difficulty in her sacking. The authorities’s chief whip, Mark Spencer, mentioned he was the particular person on the middle of Ghani’s management. He mentioned they have been utterly false and defamatory.

“I have never used those words attributed to me,” he mentioned. Johnson met Ghani to debate the “extremely serious” in July 2020, a spokesperson from the prime minister’s workplace mentioned on Sunday.

Downing Street mentioned that when the have been first made, Johnson advisable she make a proper grievance to the Conservative Campaign Headquarters.”She did not take up this offer,” Downing Street mentioned.

Ghani’s allegation got here after considered one of her Conservative mentioned he would meet police to debate colleagues allegations that authorities whips had tried to “blackmail” lawmakers suspected of making an attempt to drive Johnson from workplace.

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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS

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