UK Prime Minister Johnson loses poll lead after blockade party revelations Reuters

By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) – Conservatives of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have lost the lead in the polls against the opposition Labor Party, as revelations about alleged blockade parties at Johnson’s headquarters have sparked cries of hypocrisy.

A YouGov poll for The Times showed that Johnson’s Conservatives had fallen by 3 percentage points from December 2 to 33% of the vote, while Labor had risen by 4 percentage points to 37%.

Johnson imposed restrictions on COVID in England on Wednesday, apologizing for a video he was showing and joking about a Downing Street party at the 2020 Christmas blockade, and jokingly apologized just hours after such festivities were banned.

Downing Street denied it was a party. Johnson said he was angry with the impression the video gave.

The BBC reported that Johnson’s Deputy Director of Communications, Jack Doyle, was speaking at a party of 20-30 people on 18 December. Downing Street declined to comment.

Three-quarters of people believe it was a Christmas party that broke the rules of coronavirus, and 68 percent of those surveyed believe Johnson did not tell the truth when he denied it, The Times reported.

Another Survation poll of 1,178 people on Wednesday and Thursday put Labor at 40% of the vote, 1 percentage point, and Johnson’s Conservatives fell from 2% to 34%.

Johnson will face dozens of Conservative lawmakers who will oppose the introduction of new COVID rules next week.

“I hope Conservative MPs will vote against these latest cuts,” said John Redwood (NYSE :), a Conservative MP.

Johnson won 365 of the 650 seats in the 2019 election, the largest majority in the Conservative Party since Margaret Thatcher won the 1987 victory, with a commitment to Brexit.

But Johnson has been criticized for handling a vicious scandal in recent months, awarding COVID’s contract profits, renovating Downing Street’s weight, and a claim to make sure pets were evacuated from Kabul during the chaotic retreat in the West.