Should Brit’s Boris go in God’s name or, for Lanka’s sake, stay

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is fighting for his political life for having attended a party in the garden at his official residence, No 10, Downing Street. The party organised by his staff members took place in mid-April, during the COVID lockdown. Worse. It was held on the eve of Prince Phillip’s funeral, when the nation, led by the Queen, was mourning his death.

The opposition Labour Party is braying for his resignation. So are some of his own Tory backbenchers, with one of them telling him, ‘in the name of God go’. They claim that he had broken his own COVID rule he had set for the people: the ban on social gathering as a COVID prevention measure.

Boris Johnson, who was elected as Prime Minister in 2019, however insists he is innocent. He admits he attended the party, a farewell send off to a Downing Street colleague. But insists he did not know it was a party. While his explanation has triggered laughter, the British people seem not amused.

But even if he had known, is his mis

demeanour – similar to a schoolboy monitor caught at a midnight feast - justifiable cause to call for his resignation? Does the punishment that is sought fit the minor nature of the crime?

Did his decision to attend the event, happening in his own backyard, cause serious damage to the nation? Did his decision plunge the country into a COVID nightmare, wreck the COVID prevention plan, spawn a Downing Street cluster that subsequently infected the entire British population, threaten people’s livelihoods, or result in mass suffering? No.

On the contrary he is widely credited as the man who led the successful fight against COVID and led Britain out of the COVID siege. Yet he is being asked to resign for attending a party, for not setting the example. Pity. To lose a leader for an inconsequential trifle.

England, this throne of kings, this sceptred isle, this demi paradise, this precious stone set in a silver sea, in the words of Shakespeare. Lanka quite fits the description except she has had no empire to speak of, nor the quaint customs and traditions practiced in this mother of all Parliaments. Notably lacking, too, is the notion of resignation among Lanka’s political elite who refuse to budge no matter the catastrophes they create. If Boris digs in and remains in office, no doubt, it will be held out as an example and used to justify their own anathema to resign and go home.

So, should Britain’s PM Boris resign on a matter of principle which did not cause any damage nor throw the country into turmoil? Or should he stay, at least for Lankan politicians’ sake?