British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday apologised in Parliament for a series of Covid-19 lockdown-breaching parties identified in an official inquiry, but vowed to fight on in office.
Fending off new opposition calls to resign following senior civil servant Sue Gray's report, Johnson vowed administrative changes to his Downing Street operation.
"I'm sorry for the things that we simply didn't get right, and also sorry for the way this matter has been handled," the prime minister said.
"I get it, and I will fix it," he said.
"Yes, we can be trusted to deliver," Johnson added, stressing his post-Brexit agenda and action against Russia over its threats to Ukraine.
"I am going to get on with the job."
The report from an inquiry into parties held in Johnson's Downing Street complex during pandemic lockdowns said on Monday that some of the events should not have been allowed and identified "failures" of leadership.
"There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times," said Gray's 12-page report, referring to Johnson's offices. "Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place."
The report states: "At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time."
Johnson, facing the gravest threat to his premiership over the alleged lockdown-busting parties at his residence and Downing Street office, has so far weathered growing calls to resign by asking angry lawmakers to wait for the report by senior civil servant Gray.
Anger over double-standards
The public and political anger over what has been called the "partygate scandal" in the UK and the apparent double-standards has put Johnson's position in jeopardy, prompting speculation that he could be ousted or forced to resign.
But doubts about Johnson's immediate future subsided after London's Metropolitan Police said on Friday they had opened an investigation into some of the events to assess whether criminal offences had been committed. They asked for the report to make only "minimal reference" to those events.
Gray investigated 16 separate gatherings and said she was limited in what she could say in her long-awaited report after the police probe was launched.
But in the 12-page report made public on Monday, she decried "excessive consumption of alcohol" on various occasions in Downing Street, at a time when the British public was largely banned from socialising.
The police are looking into 12 of the events, with the possibility that any of those attending, including Johnson, could be fined for breaching Covid-19 regulations in force over the past two years.
Johnson's political opponents have accused him of misleading Parliament by insisting the events at Downing Street were within the rules at the time and were work-related.
Ministers found to have broken the rules are normally under pressure to resign but earlier Monday, Johnson told reporters: "I stick absolutely to what I've said in the past...You're going to have to wait and see the outcome of the investigations."
Weeks of media reports about more than a dozen gatherings – including a "bring your own booze" party in the Downing Street garden – have provoked widespread public anger, fuelling the perception that the political elite failed to stick to the tough lockdown rules they set for the rest of the country.
Johnson has apologised for errors that were made and said he attended one garden party thinking it was a work event, but has rejected calls to quit.
Nevertheless, collapsing opinion poll ratings have unnerved lawmakers in his own party, raising the prospect that they could trigger a confidence vote in his leadership. Several have already publicly called for him to quit.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
