PRESS RELEASE: Sue Gray update: Guildford's Conservative MP can no longer hide behind lame excuses
!!Update - 1st February 2022!!
Since my original press release yesterday, Guildford's MP released a statement saying that she felt "deep disappointment" that the report has taken so long, that there are still questions to be answered and that she, last week, stepped back from her role of PPS for Michael Gove to "invest more of my time realising the campaigns that I am working on for the people of Guildford, Cranleigh and our villages". She notably failed to mention the palpable anger that local residents are feeling, and voicing to me on the doorstep, be truly critical of the PM or call for his resignation.
Last night I issued the following comment on Ms Richardson's response:
"Still not a single Conservative MP in Surrey has called on Boris Johnson to resign.
"No lame excuses or half-hearted condemnation of Boris Johnson's behaviour will wash with local people in Guildford and Cranleigh who are rightly outraged by this scandal.
"Why won't Angela Richardson listen to local people and call on Boris Johnson to actually resign? It is an insult to people in Guildford who sacrificed so much in this pandemic that Conservative MPs continue to keep Boris Johnson in the job."
Responding to Sue Gray's update on parties being held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Guildford, Cranleigh and our villages, Zöe Franklin said:
"This is a damning moment for Boris Johnson.
"Guildford's Conservative MP cannot hide behind lame excuses any longer. We all know whilst people across Guildford, Cranleigh and our villages made terrible sacrifices during lockdowns, Boris Johnson and his team were partying in Downing Street.
"We all have painful memories of that lockdown, from not being able to see dying relatives, to being separated for months on end from our friends and family.
"It is time for Angela Richardson to sack Boris Johnson. No more ifs or buts.
"It is an insult to everyone in our area to see the local Conservative MP refusing to sack a Conservative Prime Minister who broke the law and lied about it. At the next election, Guildford constituency will be a close two-horse race between an out-of-touch Conservative party and a hard-working local Liberal Democrat team."
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey MP said:
"Everyone knows Boris Johnson broke the rules and lied to the country.
"It's time Conservative MPs did their patriotic duty, listened to their constituents and stood up for decency by sacking Boris Johnson. He must go before he does our country any more harm."
END
NOTES TO EDITOR
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper MP, has also written to Blue Wall Tory MPs calling on them to sack Boris Johnson