‘In the Name of God, Go!’ Tory MP Calls For Embattled Boris Johnson to Step Down in Chaotic Debate

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson just announced the end of all pandemic restrictions in the UK, amid growing calls for him to resign over accusations of alcohol-fueled parties at 10 Downing Street that broke his own government’s Covid protocols. Thus far, Johnson has refused to resign but is now facing calls from some of his fellow Tories to step down.

The lifting of restrictions includes no longer asking people to work from home and no longer requiring masks in schools or at public events. Covid-19 cases have been falling in the UK, and 91 percent of people 12 years of age or older have received at least one dose of the vaccine (83 percent have also received a second dose and 64 percent have received a booster shot), according to government data.

Those are two trends moving in the right direction, but Johnson is in hot water for what’s being called the “Partygate” scandal, as CNN’s Jim Sciutto reported Wednesday morning.

“He’s facing some difficult politics,” said Scuitto, describing the “grilling” Johnson had faced during the Prime Minister’s Questions over “allegations he held, not just one but multiple, alcohol filled parties at Downing Street during the height of the pandemic which broke Covid protocols his own administration imposed.”

Bianna Golodryga, guest hosting for Poppy Harlow, expressed skepticism over Johnson’s excuse that he was “saying he didn’t know those were the rules,” calling it “a bit of a head scratcher.”

MP Christian Wakeford defected from Johnson’s Conservative Party Wednesday morning and was cheered by Labour MPs as he crossed the floor to join the opposition party.

Wakeford offered a scathing critique of Johnson and the Tories, saying they had “shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves.”

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer blasted Johnson for his “absurd and unreliable defenses” for the parties that were “defending the indefensible.”

“A lot of calls for his resignation today,” said Golodryga. “These are not subtle.”

CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz reported from London, describing Johnson as “trying to fight for his political survival” in Parliament today, but ducking questions about Partygate and pointing to an investigation that was underway.

“It was denial and deflection, but that did not stop his own party,” said Abdelaziz, noting that even “conservative lawmakers are running out of patience.”

In one particularly notable moment, Tory MP David Davis lambasted Johnson in a way that recalled the famous Norway Debate in 1940, in which another Tory MP, Leopold Amery, had urged then-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to resign over the failure of appeasement of the Nazis during World War II.

Davis, a former Cabinet member, commented that he had “spent weeks and months defending the prime minister against often-angry constituents.”

“But I expect my leaders to shoulder the responsibility for the actions they take,” he continued. “Yesterday, he did the opposite of that. So, I will remind him of a quotation which may be familiar to his ear: Leopold Amery to Neville Chamberlain.”

“You have sat there too long for the good you have done,” Davis urged Johnson. “In the name of God, go!”

“You have sat there too long for all the good you have done, in the name of God go” Tory MP David Davis says

“I don’t know what he’s talking about” Boris Johnson replies “I take full responsibility for everything done throughout the pandemic”
#PMQs https://t.co/IHMfPqD9OJ pic.twitter.com/VnfZ8ZCK4V

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 19, 2022

Davis’ comments were met with cheers from his fellow MPs. Johnson claimed he didn’t know what Davis was talking about, but he undoubtedly understood the historical context, as a biographer of Winston Churchill, the man who would take over after Chamberlain to shepherd the Brits through the war.

Abdelaziz noted the “extremely important” history of the “In the name of God, go!” quote and Davis’ use of it today. “We’re looking at a prime minister that’s run out of excuses,” she said. “The latest defense is that the prime minister, who sets the rules, who tells the police in this country to enforce the rules, is claiming he somehow didn’t know the rules.”

The threshold required for a no confidence vote had not yet been reached, but “every day that rebellion against him grows,” she added.

Watch the video above, via CNN and the BBC.