A sorry excuse

Unrepentant Johnson says he regrets apologising for parties

- DAVE BURKE

BORIS Johnson last night said he regrets saying sorry over the lockdown parties in Downing Street.

But the disgraced former PM refused to say whether he regretted apologising to the Queen about illegal gatherings the night before Prince Philip's funeral.

Partygate was one of a string of scandals that helped bring him down.

In his memoir Unleashed, he says issuing "pathetic" and "grovelling" apologies was a mistake that "made us look far more culpable than we were".

And in an interview with ITV, Johnson was pressed over whether he regrets saying sorry to the Queen.

He was forced to issue a grovelling apology after it emerged two parties took place at No 10 on April 16, 2021.

The following day, heartbreaking images showed the Queen sitting apart from her family at Philip's funeral because of the strict lockdown rules.