LONDON—British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized for attending a drinks party held in the Downing Street garden when strict lockdown measures were in place in 2020, seeking to tamp down growing public outcry and respond to pressure from his own lawmakers over the event.
During a boisterous session in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Johnson said he regretted joining a party in Downing Street billed as a “bring your own booze” party. He explained that he thought the gathering was a work event. “I know the rage they feel with me, with the government I lead,” Mr. Johnson said.
In May 2020, a senior official in Mr. Johnson’s team emailed staff inviting them to meet for drinks in the garden of Downing Street. “We thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather,” the email read. Around 100 people were invited when lockdown rules only allowed people to meet one other person outdoors.
Mr. Johnson said Wednesday that he attended the event for 25 minutes “to thank groups of staff” for their work during the pandemic. He added that he “believed implicitly” that it was a work event.
“With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside,” he said.
An internal probe into the allegations is under way. London’s Metropolitan Police is also considering whether to launch an investigation.
The apology did little to cool the political fury inside Westminster. Lawmakers from across all the major political parties, including Mr. Johnson’s, publicly called for the prime minister to resign.
Mr. Johnson’s fate now largely resides in the hands of the senior civil servant leading the internal investigation and his own lawmakers.
“He will survive in the short to medium term because it is hard to imagine a challenge from his backbenchers at this stage,” said Tony Travers, a political professor at the London School of Economics.
Still the debacle leaves Mr. Johnson politically weakened at a time when he must make difficult decisions about how best to steer the economy as inflation and rising energy prices begin to bite.
Several Conservative lawmakers are demanding Mr. Johnson ditch a planned tax increase this spring that is earmarked to fund the National Health Service. The government will also come under pressure over how he handles domestic policy after having taken the U.K. out of the European Union. Conservative lawmakers will now “have a toehold over him,” Mr. Travers said.
Since the Tories command a solid majority in Parliament, removing Mr. Johnson requires a mass rebellion within his own party. Under Conservative Party rules, 54 lawmakers must send letters of no confidence to a special Conservative committee to trigger a vote in their leader. At least half of the party’s lawmakers must then vote to oust him.
Following his apology in Parliament, some Conservatives said they would give Mr. Johnson the benefit of the doubt. “People are hurt and angry at what happened and he has taken full responsibility for that,” tweeted Nadine Dorries, the U.K.’s culture secretary.
Others weren’t so forgiving. Douglas Ross, the Conservative Party leader in Scotland, said Mr. Johnson had to resign. William Wragg, another prominent Conservative lawmaker, said the prime minister’s position was “untenable.”
Senior lawmakers from Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and Labour—the main opposition parties—also called for Mr. Johnson to quit.
“Is the prime minister so contemptuous of the British public that he thinks he can just ride this out?” asked Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader.
Mr. Johnson urged lawmakers to await the outcome of the internal investigation before drawing conclusions. That internal probe is also looking at allegations that several other social events also took place in Downing Street during various lockdowns.
Much of Mr. Johnson’s appeal to Conservative lawmakers lies in his formidable electoral record. In December 2019, he led the party to a decisive victory in a national election, securing the largest majority for the Conservative Party in the House of Commons since 1987. The Tories now control 361 of the house’s 650 seats.
His ability to hold on will in large part be down to how his party believes he would fare during an election scheduled to be held in 2024.
The popular anger over the allegations has sent the Conservative Party’s ratings in the polls into free fall. Twenty-three percent of the British public currently approve of the government, according to pollster YouGov. Two-thirds of Britons think that Mr. Johnson should resign over the issue of the drinks party, according to a Savanta ComRes poll published Tuesday.
If Mr. Johnson’s popularity appears to fade, lawmakers may turn against him, officials say. A crucial test is how the party fares in local elections this May.
His apology on Wednesday is the latest twist in a scandal that has been bubbling since the fall. In December, a video was leaked showing government advisers joking during a mock press conference over how to explain a party in Downing Street during lockdown. Another leaked photo showed Mr. Johnson flanked by an aide wearing tinsel reading questions for a Christmas office quiz.
Mr. Johnson has spent the past week stonewalling questions about a scandal the British press has dubbed “Partygate,” saying he didn’t want to pre-empt the investigation.
The change in tack came when he wanted to “acknowledge the strength of feeling” over the issue, a spokesman said. A spokeswoman said the prime minister didn’t see the email from his senior adviser inviting staff to a party in Downing Street. She declined to comment on whether Mr. Johnson brought a bottle with him to the party or how he became aware of the event.
Mr. Johnson previously told Parliament that he always followed the rules. The prime minister said he would make a statement to the House of Commons once the internal probe is complete.
“Partygate” is the latest lockdown blunder to have washed over Mr. Johnson’s government. Last June, U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock quit after breaking social-distancing rules. He was filmed kissing an adviser in his office.
Mr. Johnson also expended political capital defending his then-chief of staff Dominic Cummings, who appeared to break restrictions when he traveled hundreds of miles to stay with family during the height of the pandemic in 2020.
Mr. Cummings, who later quit over a separate disagreement with Mr. Johnson, broke the story of the Downing Street garden party by publishing an account on his blog last week.
Write to Max Colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com
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