Boris Johnson says ‘no’, he will not resign, despite repeated calls from his own party and the opposition

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, fighting to save his premiership amid a storm over a series of lockdown parties in Downing Street, told parliament on Wednesday he would not resign.

Johnson is struggling to quell an internal revolt by his own lawmakers who are angry over the parties in Downing Street, the prime minister’s office and residence, during Covid-19 lockdowns, as well as facing opposition calls for him to step down.

Johnson, who in 2019 won his party’s biggest majority in more than 30 years on a pledge to “Get Brexit Done”, has repeatedly apologised for the parties and said that he was unaware of many of them.

However, he attended what he said he thought was a work event on May 20, 2020 which revellers had been told to “bring their own booze”.

“Every week, the prime minister offers absurd and frankly unbelievable defences to the Downing Street parties, and each week it unravels,” Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, told parliament.

Starmer, who welcomed the defection of lawmaker Christian Wakeford who left Johnson’s Conservatives to join Labour, asked Johnson if a prime minister should resign if he misled parliament.