Downing Street party: What do Boris Johnson's constituents think?
- Published
Boris Johnson has now admitted attending a Downing Street party at the height of the first Covid lockdown.
The prime minister apologised and told Parliament that he thought the event, to which 100 staffers received a "bring-your-own-booze" invitation, was a work gathering.
At PMQs, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for him to resign.
BBC London went to Uxbridge in west London to see what Mr Johnson's constituents make of the affair.
Mandy Coker, 54, from Ickenham, said people shouldn't forget Mr Johnson had done a good job leading the country through the pandemic.
"I think we're living in very difficult times and everybody makes mistakes," she said. "I think he has done some fabulous things with the furlough and some people wouldn't still have their jobs and houses without that.
"I do feel he has made mistakes, but haven't we all, and remember he has had Covid himself."
Her daughter Rosie Coker, 21, said the prime minister needed to pull his socks up.
"He has to get himself back on track," she said. "He was good but he has been a disappointment recently because he has knocked himself down.
"The UK owes him a lot for Covid and Brexit and we want him to be better."
Eric Collins, 74, from Northolt, said he believed this was the end of the line for Mr Johnson and for the Conservative Party in Uxbridge & South Ruislip - where the prime minister has a majority of just over 5,000 votes.
He said: "He's still trying to pass this off as a work meeting when everybody knows it wasn't.
"I think the 1922 Committee will get the letters in and the end is going to come.
"If he is still in power at the next election, Uxbridge will definitely be going red."
Bernice Nartey, 27, from Uxbridge, said this was a straightforward case of breaking the rules, so Mr Johnson should quit.
She said: "He broke the rules as the prime minister so he needs to resign.
"It was lockdown and we couldn't have a big party but he got to have one. That's not fair to the rest of the country."
Steve Evans, 62, said he was a lifelong Conservative voter but could not now see a future for Mr Johnson as prime minister.
"I've liked Boris for a long time," he said. "I thought he was the best idiot of all the idiots we've got.
"But I don't think he is going to weather this one."
Amar Sanga, 27, from Hayes, said the Uxbridge MP was a hypocrite and should go.
He said: "They put these rules in place and we had to do as we were told.
"He told everyone not to go out, but he was going to parties. He's a hypocrite."
However, Wendy Bass, 76, from Ruislip, defended Mr Johnson and said the issue had been blown out of proportion.
"It's a storm in a teacup," she said. "I don't think everybody stuck to all the rules anyway.
"A garden is a big place, so I just don't think it's significant enough for him to resign."
- Published12 January 2022
- Published21 March 2023