More of the area’s politicians have called for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign as he faces mounting pressure over a boozy garden party at his Downing Street residence whilst the rest of the nation was in lockdown.
Last week we told how Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, Stirling SNP MP Alyn Smith and the leader of the Scottish Conservatives at Stirling Council, Councillor Neil Benny had called for Mr Johnson to quit after it was revealed that he and around 40 Tory staff members held a BYOB garden party in May 2020 whilst residents living at a care home in Tullibody were dying from coronavirus – as coverage from the Stirling Observer at the time showed.
Now, Mid Scotland and Fife Tory MSP Alexander Stewart has echoed those calls, saying he was “dismayed and disappointed by the actions of the Prime Minister ”.
Mr Stewart added: “People all over my region - and indeed right across the United Kingdom – made enormous sacrifices with many suffering devastating losses during the pandemic.
“The Prime Minister confirmed that he attended this so-called party and as such has lost the confidence of the country, so I support the calls by Douglas Ross that he should resign.”
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Mid Scotland and Fife Green MSP Mark Ruskell also called for the Prime Minister to quit. He said: “His feeble apology at PMQs simply won’t cut it. His display in the Commons once again confirmed that he is utterly unfit to hold public office.
“While the people of Stirling were enduring immense hardship, to safeguard the vulnerable and protect our public services, Mr Johnson was partying. And then he lied about it again and again.
“The level of solidarity shown by the public over the last two years has been remarkable, people in Stirling have followed strict rules, yet the Prime Minister didn’t have the decency to follow those same rules.
“Boris Johnson’s actions were not only selfish, but risked undermining important public health guidance. Johnson’s time is up. He must go and go now. And if he won’t resign then his Conservative colleagues must find their backbone and force him out.”
At last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, at which he issued a grovelling apology. Mr Johnson told MPs that he attended the May 20, 2020 gathering for around 25 minutes to “thank groups of staff”.
“I believed implicitly that this was a work event,” he said. “But with hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside, I should have found some other way to thank them, and I should have recognised that – even if it could have been said technically to fall within the guidance – there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way.”
Acknowledging the public outcry over the event, Mr Johnson said:“I know the rage they feel with me and with the Government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules.”
He went on: “Though I cannot anticipate the conclusions of the current inquiry, I have learned enough to know there were things we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility.”
Mid Scotland and Fife Tory MSP Dean Lockhart declined to comment on the situation when approached by the Stirling Observer.
