British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday denied an accusation by his former adviser that he had lied to parliament about a lockdown party.
He said nobody had warned him the “bring your own booze” gathering might contravene COVID-19 rules.
Johnson faces the gravest crisis of his tenure after revelations about gatherings during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Critics said the gathering was held when British people could not even bid farewell in person to dying relatives and the Queen was mourning her husband.
Propelled into the top job to “get Brexit done”, Johnson won his party’s biggest majority in more than 30 years, but now faces calls to resign from opponents and even some of his own lawmakers.
Asked if he had lied to the public and parliament, Johnson told reporters: “No. Nobody told me that what we were doing was, as you say, against the rules, that the event in question, was, something, that we were going to do something that wasn’t a work event … I thought that I was attending a work event.”
Reuters reports that Johnson sidestepped several questions about whether or not he would resign if it was proven that he had misled parliament. But he apologised for mistakes made in Downing Street.
Johnson last week also apologised to parliament for attending the May 20, 2020 “bring your own booze” gathering in the Downing Street garden.
He said he had attended for 25 minutes to thank the staff.
