UK Labour leader Starmer says Johnson broke law and lied

Washington

BRITISH Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said on Sunday that he believes Prime Minister Boris Johnson "broke the law and lied", regarding parties at No 10 Downing Street held during national coronavirus lockdowns.

"The prime minister has degraded the office of prime minister and has lost all authority not only within his own party but with the whole country," Starmer said on BBC's Sunday Show.

The chairman of Johnson's Conservative Party, though, stood by his embattled leader, saying the UK must avoid a "divisive leadership conflict" at this point to focus on ending the Covid pandemic and reviving the economy.

Oliver Dowden spoke as some Tory members of parliament call for Johnson to step down after a string of damaging reports about Downing Street happy hours.

On Sky News, Dowden said Johnson deserved to stay on after making the "right call" on the nation's Covid-19 vaccine booster programme, but also needed to make a commitment to changing the culture on Downing Street.

Almost 3 dozen Tory MPs support a no-confidence vote in Johnson, The Sunday Times reported, citing a senior government source it didn't identify. That's still well short of the 54 that would be required to trigger a vote on the PM's leadership.

Only a handful have publicly called for Johnson to quit, though. One Conservative speaking up was Tim Loughton, who called Johnson's position untenable in a statement posted on Saturday on Facebook. "Most people have expressed genuinely held views and have been deeply troubled, angered or appalled by recent events involving No 10," Loughton said. "That includes people who have previously been great supporters of Boris Johnson as well as Conservative Party members."

With his back to the wall, The Times reported that Johnson is considering staff changes, and also plans to soon announce a range of measures, from banning alcohol at his office to setting plans to help the National Health Service end its years-long backlog of patients.

Most immediately, Johnson is expected to soon lift most or all of England's "Plan B" coronavirus measures as at Jan 26, as cases tumble to a 1-month low and hospital admissions stabilise.

Recent opinion polls have shown Johnson's Conservative Party shedding support in the traditionally Labour-voting districts in northern England that the Tories flipped in the last election.

Nationally, Labour now holds its biggest lead over the Conservatives since 2013, according to an Opinium poll taken for The Observer. BLOOMBERG