MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

British PM shall not resign despite Labour and popular pressure

When asked if he would resign, Johnson said “no.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Wednesday refused to resign despite calls from the opposition that such a move was necessary after scandals hit 10 Downing Street.

Speaking at the House of Commons in London, Johnson also refused to answer questions about the parties which reportedly took place at the PM's residence while the nation was either in lockdown due to the pandemic or in mourning due to Prince Philip's death.

The Prime Minister merely replied there was already a police investigation underway.

Labour leader Keir Starmer asked Johnson if he planned to leave his post and the Primke Minister simply said: “No.” Starmer also said Johnson put the United Kingdom in a “shameful” situation, after the London Metropolitan Police (MET, or Scotland Yard) confirmed Tuesday that it would launch an inquiry into the meetings at Downing Street.

Johnson then accused Starmer, a former state prosecutor, of being “opportunistic” and of being “more of a lawyer than a leader.” He also argued Labour and others want him “out of their way,” because of his achievements, such as Brexit and the country's vaccination program, in addition to “uniting the West to prepare a tough package of sanctions” that deters Russia to invade Ukraine.

Nevertheless, 62% of British adults say Boris Johnson should resign, according to a Survation poll released Wednesday. It was the third such poll to yield similar results after Savanta ComRes (Jan. 11; 66%) and Opinium (Jan. 15; 63%).

Survation interviewed 1,117 UK adults online Jan. 25 and found three out of 10 respondents (29%) said he should not resign. The margin of error on the poll is plus or minus 3 percentage points, it was reported.

At this point, Johnson has more support from his Conservative party than he did last week, which suggests a confidence vote is not to be mooted before a report on the scandalous party by Senior civil servant Sue Gray is published. Over a week ago such a vote seemed imminent.