Hemel Hempstead Lib Dems call on Sir Mike Penning to 'sack' Boris Johnson

Liberal Dems say anger from Hemel residents who lost friends and relatives to Covid is off the scale
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Hemel Hempstead Liberal Democrats are asking for the Hemel Hempstead MP to remove Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

And the MP says he is 'furious' over the allegations of parties at Downing Street during lockdown.

If Sir Mike Penning and 53 other Conservative MPs express no confidence in Boris Johnson then he will have to resign or fight to keep his job in a no-confidence vote.

Sir Mike PenningSir Mike Penning
Sir Mike Penning

The Lib Dems said: "The lockdown parties at No 10 have got so bad the Queen had to receive an apology from Boris, staff are being lined up to be sacked and anger from Hemel people who lost friends and relatives to Covid is off the scale."

Sir Mike Penning said: “Firstly, I want to make it clear that I am also absolutely furious about this. My mother had a major operation during lockdown and I was not able to be with her as we were in lockdown at home.

"To learn that there were apparently parties going on in Downing Street is unbelievable.

"I recognise that the Prime Minister and his team in Downing Street were under enormous pressure and the PM has had the most difficult time imaginable to be in office.

"But that is no excuse for not obeying rules put in place by the Government themselves. There cannot be one rule for them and another for the rest of us.

"It shows a dreadful lack of judgement, not just by the PM, but also those he has chosen to be around him.

"Like you, I have also been frustrated at many of the decisions made as we battle this virus, but there have been high points too.

"The PM has put in place the best vaccine response in Europe and, as a result, we have been able to battle the omicron variant with a relatively low number of hospitalisations.

"The economy is also in a good place, considering the battering it has taken over the past year, and I welcome the new focus on tackling climate change – the single most important issue for our planet.

"A change in leadership is an enormous upheaval and I am disappointed that Covid has prevented the PM from being able to focus on the things he really wanted to do and that we set out in our manifesto. I would still like to do these things.

"For those that asked, I do not work in No.10, have never done so, and I was not invited to and did not attend any parties during lockdown.”