AFTER the Prime Minister admitted being at a Downing Street garden party in May 2020, Cheshire MPs have given their verdicts.

Appearing in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon (January 12) Boris Johnson apologised to the nation and said he takes "full responsibility" but that he believed the gathering was a work event.

It was his first public appearance since the leak on Monday of an email from his principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, inviting Downing Street staff to the gathering in May 2020 to “make the most of the lovely weather”.

Fellow Conservative and Tatton MP Esther McVey, said it was 'impossible to defend the behaviour' but stopped short of calling for the Prime Minister to resign.

She said: "It is totally unacceptable for anyone in Government to be flouting the laws they have imposed on everyone else. Such behaviour is impossible to justify and defend.

"People up and down the country followed these rules at huge personal cost, they could not be with their loved ones in their final hours or attend funerals, others suffered months of loneliness and many lost their livelihoods.

"There cannot be one rule for some and one rule for others."

Weaver Vale and Labour MP Mike Amesbury pulled no punches in his statement, calling for him to go, either voluntarily or be removed by his own party.

He said: "Boris Johnson admitted attending the Downing Street garden party during lockdown on May 20, 2020, at PMQs today, but claims he didn't realise it was a party!

"It was a non-apology. It wasn’t even a qualified apology. He referred to it as technically falling within the guidance.

"He takes us for fools if he thinks we are going to swallow his lies when the rest of the country did the right thing and followed the rules.

"He now needs to do the honourable thing and resign. Keir Starmer was very strong on this. If he doesn’t resign then it’s up to members of the Conservative Party to remove him.

"Johnson is bringing dishonour on the office of Prime Minister."

A spokesman for Edward Timpson, Member of Parliament for Eddisbury, said: "It is right for the Prime Minister to apologise, and Mr Timpson recognises the strength of feeling amongst his constituents: particularly those who were enduring such personal difficulty at the time, yet adhering to the health regulations responsibly.

"Everybody who has written to Edward on the subject will be receiving a personal response."