Boris Johnson apologizes amid lockdown party scandal: 'I should have sent everyone back inside'

Boris Johnson.
(Image credit: JACK HILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Wednesday for briefly attending a gathering in the back garden of 10 Downing Street in May 2020, despite strict COVID-19 restrictions at the time, CNN reports.

On Monday, it was revealed that Johnson's principal private secretary Martin Reynolds had invited over 100 Downing Street staffers to BYOB, "socially distanced" drinks on May 20, 2020. At the time, Britons were prohibited "from meeting with more than one other person outdoors, and would be legally punished for doing so," CNN reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.