Labour leader Keir Starmer has called for Boris Johnson to resign after being fined for breaching Covid lockdown rules.
He said: “What a joke.
“As the mealy-mouthed apology stumbles from one side of his mouth, more deflections and distortions come from the other.”
“It’s what he does. It’s who he is. He knows he’s dishonest and incapable of changing."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs: “Let me begin in all humility by saying that on April 12 I received a fixed penalty notice relating to an event in Downing Street on June 19 2020.
Keir Starmer
GB News
“I paid the fine immediately and I offered the British people a full apology, and I take this opportunity on the first available sitting day to repeat my wholehearted apology to the House.”
Boris Johnson
GB News
Shouts of “resign” could be heard in the Commons.
He added: “As soon as I received the notice, I acknowledged the hurt and anger and I said that people had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister – and I repeat that, Mr Speaker, again in the House now.
“Let me also say, not by way of mitigation or excuse but purely because it explains my previous words in this House, that it did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the Cabinet Room just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy could amount to a breach of the rules.
“I repeat that was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly.
“I respect the outcome of the police investigation, which is still under way, and I can only say that I will respect their decision-making and always take the appropriate steps.”
Mr Johnson said he has taken “significant steps” to change the way things work in No 10.