PRESS RELEASE: Guildford and Cranleigh Lib Dems call on Johnson to resign following Sue Gray report

Guildford Liberal Democrats
Contact: Zöe Franklin
EMBARGO: Immediate

Guildford and Cranleigh's Liberal Democrats have today called on Boris Johnson to resign as the damning Sue Gray report is published and the Partygate scandal comes to a head.

The local Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservatives of "failing the country" and added that while thousands of people across Guildford, Cranleigh and or villages made sacrifices, Boris Johnson's Number 10 enjoyed parties and 'Wine Time Fridays'.

The Liberal Democrats have also branded Conservative MPs supporting Boris Johnson as "insulting local people's sacrifices."

Today, the Sue Gray report includes pictures of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak together at a birthday party. The report came with a damning line to Boris Johnson's Government saying, "the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture."

Responding to the news, Zöe Franklin, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson said:

"Our borough and local area has been completely taken for granted. While local residents made sacrifices, Johnson's Number 10 partied. They think it's one rule for them and another for the rest of us.

"The Sue Gray report shows behaviour that is an insult to local people's sacrifices during the pandemic. We have all seen the pictures. It's clear they take the British public for fools.

"Whilst people in our communities were making heartbreaking sacrifices, we know Boris Johnson's Downing Street was the scene of raucous parties and disgraceful behaviour. It is time Johnson did the decent thing and resigned.

"At the next election here it will be a clear choice between Boris Johnson's Conservative candidate and the hard-working local Liberal Democrats. It is time we restored decency and integrity to our politics and finally get rid of this out-of-touch and disrespectful Conservative Government. Guildford and Cranleigh deserve better than this"

Responding to the Sue Gray report, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey added:

"This report lays bare the shocking failures of leadership by Boris Johnson and shows why he's not fit to be prime minister of our country.

"Johnson has dragged his entire government through the mud to protect his own job.

"He didn't care while he laughed and broke the rules while the country was in lockdown. And he doesn't care now when every household in Britain faces eye-watering costs at the petrol pumps, sky-rocketing food prices and massive energy bills.

"Any other prime minister would have been forced to resign by a report as damaging as this, yet still Conservative MPs defend the Prime Minister and allow him to cling on."

ENDS