Former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has called on Boris Johnson to resign, and blasted the Prime Minister as a "shameless" narcissist.
Mr Bercow, who stood down in 2019, criticised Mr Johnson's apology over the 'Partygate' row engulfing the UK government, saying he had failed to say anything of substance.
Boris Johnson is under huge pressure after a daily barrage of claims that parties were held at Downing Street and other UK government offices during lockdown.
Amid rumours that the Prime Minister could soon face a vote of no confidence from his own MPs after failing to get a grip on the situation, Mr Bercow said that there would soon be an attempt to switch the blame onto someone else.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson to face MPs as threat of no confidence vote looms
The former speaker said: “He’s [Boris Johnson] completely shameless, he’s totally narcissistic, he believes he’s always had his own way and that he should have - and his instinct now will be to try and blame as many other people as possible and to do anything he can to shift the agenda onto what he thinks might be more fertile to reign.”
John Bercow was Commons speaker
Speaking on a special edition of his new podcast Absolute Power, Mr Bercow said that Boris Johnson's apology in parliament after it emerged he had attended a garden party at Downing Street - believing it was a work event - was "absolutely dreadful".
He said: “In fact, in respect of all the questions about Partygate, let’s be clear, fundamentally, he said the same thing over and over and over again with monotonous regularity, which was, “wait for the Sue Gray report.
"To which of course, the answer is, actually Prime Minister we don’t have to wait for the report to know whether you attended the party, you’ve accepted and acknowledged you did.
"We don’t have to wait for the report from Sue Gray to know you were exceptionally foolish and ill-judged to do what you did.”
He added: “So it’s all very well to say “I’m sorry and I take responsibility”, but what do the words “I take responsibility” mean? Was he saying, “I’ve behaved so foolishly, I’ve so let myself down and I’ve so let the government down, I’ve so let the house down, I’ve so let the country down that I tender my resignation?
"No, anything but. In fact, now we can see the papers are rife with speculation that he is busily drawing up plans for scapegoats. In other words, “let’s get rid of someone else from his or her job so I can keep mine”
“Does that surprise me? Absolutely not - this is in keeping with the prime minister’s deluded and narcissistic personality.”
Boris Johnson
Mr Bercow called for the Prime Minister to resign, saying he had lost "all moral authority".
READ MORE: Scottish Conservative MPs told to submit letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson
He said: "He’s ended up having to apologise not only to the House but to the Queen, he’s almost certainly broken the ministerial code, misled parliament and he’s broken the rules that he’s devised”
“But don’t rule out the possibility he may stagger on for a while longer. I don’t think there’s a cat in hell’s chance of him going voluntarily.”
“He is without doubt the worst prime minister of my lifetime and it’s not a photo-finish.”
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