Keir Starmer: Boris Johnson should resign in the 'national interest'

It is in the “national interest” for Boris Johnson to resign, his Labour rival has argued, following revelations of No 10 parties held while tough lockdown rules were in place.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, answering questions after a speech at the Fabian Society conference in London, said: “What we’ve now got to is a situation where you have a Prime Minister who has lost the moral authority to lead.

“And just when you need, because we are not out of the pandemic, a Government that has that moral authority to lead, we’ve lost it with this Prime Minister.”

He added: “The moral authority matters of course in relation to Covid, but we’ve got other massive challenges facing this country.

“We’ve got a Prime Minister who is absent – he is literally in hiding at the moment and unable to lead, so that’s why I’ve concluded that he has got to go.

“And of course there is a party vantage in him going but actually it is now in the national interest that he goes, so it is very important now that the Tory Party does what it needs to do and gets rid of him.”