British PM Boris Johnson Apologizes to Parliament Over Covid Lockdown Parties: ‘I Understand the Anger’

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized for the parties held at 10 Downing Street while the rest of the United Kingdom was under pandemic lockdown.

Johnson appeared before Parliament on Monday after Senior civil servant Sue Gray released her investigative assessment that the alcohol-fueled parties broke Covid protocol and represented “failures of leadership and judgment.” The controversy has sparked calls for Johnson’s resignation, but even though the prime minister refused to do so before Parliament, he accepted Gray’s findings “in full.”

From Johnson’s remarks:

I want to say sorry. I’m sorry for the things we simply didn’t get right and also sorry for the way that this matter has been handled. And it’s no use saying that this or that was within the rules. It’s no use saying people were working hard. This pandemic was hard for everyone. We asked people across this country to make the most extraordinary sacrifices, not to meet loved ones, not to visit relatives before they died, and I understand the anger that people feel. But Mr. Speaker, it isn’t enough to say sorry. Is is a moment when we must look at ourselves in the mirror and we must learn.

Johnson went on to promise changes would be made to address Gray’s findings about the workplace culture at Downing Street and the Cabinet’s office. The prime minister’s remarks come after he previously insisted Covid rules and guidance were followed around Downing Street “at all times.”

“I get it,” he said, “and I will fix it.”

Watch above, via CNN.