Calls are growing for the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to resign over his involvement in a Downing Street party that broke the government’s own lockdown rules. 

Under intense pressure, Johnson had previously kept silent since a leaked email emerged last week over the scandal and his lack of comment to either confirm or deny the attendance has infuriated opposition parties and British public further. 

However, addressing Parliament for the first time on Wednesday afternoon in a weekly session the PM had to attend, Johnson has admitted he attended the party and issued an apology; despite saying he believed it was “a work event."

Acknowledging the “rage [the public] feel with me and with the government” the PM says "with hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside”. 

Responding to the prime minister's admission, the main opposition Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, called on Johnson to "do the decent thing and resign", describing his defense as "so ridiculous that it is actually offensive to the British people".

Starmer added Johnson is a "pathetic spectacle of a man who has run out of road. The party is over prime minister”. 

He further said "When the prime minister's former health secretary broke the rules, he resigned and the prime minister said he was right to do so.

"When the prime minister's spokesperson laughed about the rules being broken, she resigned, and the prime minister accepted that resignation. Why does the prime minister still think that the rules don't apply to him?"

Conservative Party Members of Parliament have also expressed their anger over the Prime Minister’s failure to address the allegations until now.

Tory MP Roger Gale says the PM is on "very thin ice indeed", saying Johnson misled parliament and politically is a "dead man walking".

Gale says “unfortunately what the Prime Minister has said today leaves people like me in an impossible situation. We now know that the prime minister spent 25 minutes at what was quite clearly a party. That means that he misled the House”.

He adds “I fear that it is now going to have to be the work of the 1922 [Committee] to determine precisely how we proceed. If you look at the Twittersphere after prime minister’s question time today, it sounds to me I am afraid very much as though politically the prime minister is a dead man walking”. 

This is while the Metropolitan Police faces legal action for its failure to investigate the Downing Street Party Scandal. 

The Good Law Project says it has started legal proceedings over the police’s refusal to investigate reports of the Downing Street Party last year. 

According to British media, the campaign group says the metropolitan police told them it had "relied on the government’s assurances that no rules had been broken" and "there would have been no point in interviewing Number 10 staff about the parties because they would have refused to answer questions that exposed them to a risk of prosecution".

The Good Law Project has hit back saying: "You can have the rule of law, or you can defer to the powerful. But you can’t have both. 

The campaign group says the police “will know that multiple criminal offenses were committed. It shames the Met, and ultimately all of us, that [the Met chief] refuses to investigate."

Analysts say allegations of the Metropolitan police “deferring to the powerful” will be met with anger by the British public. 

Data from the National Police Chiefs' Council shows police fined hundreds of people for breaking lockdown rules during the week of the Downing Street garden party. There were 807 fixed penalty notices issued for in England and Wales from 15 May and 21 May 2020.

The Metropolitan Police face further questions about whether its officers knew of the gathering at the time it took place and why it did not take any action then.

The Green party pointed out how troublesome the May 2020 party was for the police force saying “this garden party raises big questions for the Met police, as their officers must surely have monitored this gathering via their security cameras and been aware of the rules in place at the time”

“The police are losing public trust with their attitude that there are lots of rules for us and no rules for Conservative ministers. Did Martin Reynolds consult with Met police officers about the Covid restrictions, or inform them of the event?” the party added.

The fluid developments and outrage come following the leak of an email from one of the prime minister’s top officials inviting more than 100 Downing Street staff to a party during the first coronavirus lockdown.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner has warned Johnson's position is "completely untenable" saying he "not only broke the rules but he's lied to the British public" adding the fact Johnson has yet to come forward to explain his account of the event "shows the measure of the man".

The Liberal Democrat Party is calling for the PM to resign, saying he has "become a threat to the health of our nation".

In a statement, the party’s leader Ed Davey said "Boris Johnson is now incapable of leading our country through this public health crisis - I actually think he is a threat to the health of the nation because no-one will do anything he says because he has now shown to have been deceitful, so Boris Johnson must now resign"

"He said to parliament and to the country before Christmas when he was apologizing that he didn’t know about the parties, and now we know he was at least one of those parties".

“So, he has clearly lied, he has broken the ministerial code, he has broken the law, he’s misled parliament - any prime minister in the past would resign for just one of those offenses.

“If he has a shred of decency left in him, I think he must resign today”.

This is while, the Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, asked by British media if the PM should step down, Ross replied: "yes, because you cannot put in place these rules, you cannot be the head of the government that is asking people to follow these rules and then breaking those rules yourself."

According to legal scholars, Johnson could be prosecuted as an "accessory to the crime" if he is found to have attended a rule-breaking Downing Street party. 

Meanwhile, in a sign of the British public turning on their Prime Minister, for the first time, more than 50% of the public has called on Johnson to resign.

A YouGov poll showed 56% of respondents believed Mr. Johnson should resign over the fresh allegations, with 27% saying he should remain.

This is while a Savanta ComRes study found 66% of British adults thought he should quit as prime minister, with 24% saying he should stay.

Given the similar results, it is more difficult to understate the potential significance of the latest snap survey from Savanta ComRes.

This indicates two-thirds of the population believe Boris Johnson should resign over the scandal.
But perhaps more importantly, 42% of Conservative voters also think he should quit. The Prime Minister has become an electoral liability for the ruling party.

The double standards in government rules can be highlighted by the campaign group ‘COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice’, which has written to Johnson urging him to "do the right thing" and apologize for attending the Downing Street garden party.

The letter was signed by Hannah Brady, who said her father's death certificate was being signed on the day of the Number 10 gathering.  
It stated: "It is now clear that whilst my dad's death certificate was being signed and me and my younger sister were grieving alone, dozens of people were gathered, clutching a bottle they had been invited to bring, in the same place you told me you had done everything you could”

"You can only imagine the pain, anguish and anger this news has brought to me and those of us lost a loved one to COVID-19. To make matters worse, when asked about this event you laughed, smirked and seemed to treat it as one big joke."