Boris Johnson's partygate defence has been slammed as 'complete and utter nonsense' by a man whose father died of Covid. Lobby Akinnola's father Kemi was buried the day before then-PM Johnson was photographed sitting with his wife Carrie and staff at a table with wine and cheese in the No 10 garden.
Mr Akinnola, 32, is a data analyst and spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice, from Walthamstow in London. His father Femi, 60, died with Covid in April 2020 before being buried in May.
Mr Akinnola told the PA news agency: "(Johnson) accepts he misled Parliament, but he did it in good faith because he was not aware at the time that what he was doing was breaking any rules. I think it's just, I mean, complete and utter nonsense.
"I think it's ridiculous to say that ignorance is some kind of defence. Remember university students were fined for breaking the rules?
"So we expected these rules to be reasonable and understandable by children, and now the man who set the rules, his defence is that he didn't understand them. From what we've seen of Boris Johnson, he's a man who will do and say whatever he needs to to escape the consequences of his actions.
"I do not believe him to be honest and I do not believe him to be trustworthy. I personally, seeing this defence, think the man does not understand the meaning of the word good faith, or he's lying.
"We were only allowed to have our immediate family - my dad has five kids and his wife, so that's six of us, that was the limit, couldn't have anyone else come and say goodbye or pay their respects to the man... (I'm) unbelievably angry that they could ask for so much from us and completely ignore that sacrifice."
