Families of those bereaved by Covid have reacted with anger to the publication of the Sue Gray report, joining demands that Tory MPs depose Boris Johnson.
At Prime Minister’s Questions the SNP’s Ian Blackford called for the Prime Minister to resign over the “drinking and debauchery” that “shames those who abided by the rules”.
Blackford said Johnson “apologised for one reason - he got caught” in a fiery Commons session ahead of a formal statement on the report.
As MPs digested the details of the Sue Gray report, Lobby Akinnola, a spokesman for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “There we have it. Whilst the country had one of the highest death rates in the world from Covid-19, they were celebrating over cheese and wine and drinking themselves sick over a karaoke machine.”
“When they refused to learn lessons and allowed the virus to run riot in the second wave, killing more people than it had in the first, they instead prioritised secret Santa.”
“When they were texting colleagues about getting away with it, we were having to text our families telling them they couldn’t come to their loved ones’ funerals."
"The messages in the report show they knew how disrespectful they were being to the families they were failing, but that didn’t bother them."
She added: “The Prime Minister has now spent months ignoring and lying to us. He has treated us like they treated their cleaning staff and security who challenged their law breaking at the time: like we’re an inconvenience, like we’re dirt.”
“The Tory MPs that have kept him in power are no better. They should know that just as we will never forget being apart from those closest to us whilst they passed away, or having to hold miserable funerals with only a handful of people, millions will never forgive them for the disrespect they’ve shown.”
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey tweeted: “The Sue Gray report lays bare the shocking failures of leadership by Boris Johnson and shows why he’s not fit to lead our country.
“Any other PM would be forced to resign by a report as damaging as this, yet still Conservative MPs defend Johnson and allow him to cling on.”
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