YORK people have slammed PM Boris Johnson for his 'complete lack of leadership' over the partying culture in Downing Street and other government offices during the pandemic.

But public opinion appeared divided over whether the PM should resign.

Comments on The Press Facebook page in the immediate aftermath of the PM's statement this afternoon following the publication of the Sue Gray report were mainly unforgiving.

Several posted GIFS urging the PM to 'resign'.

"He should go!" said former Nestlé worker Sheila Cunningham.

"I don’t think I have been to that many parties in my life, (and certainly) never attended any during lockdown," added Jane Sowerby. "It’s humiliating and an insult."

"The best fix of the lot would be him to resign," said Darren Pyper, picking up on the PM's pledge to 'fix it'.

But former BBC TV cameraman Keith Massey, from Bishopthorpe, who was rushed to hospital in 2020 after suffering a heart attack and feared he may never see his wife Sylvia again because she wasn't allowed to visit him, said now was not the time for the PM to go.

Mr Massey, who was also unable to attend a close family funeral, was furious at the revelations in the redacted Sue Gray report .

"It is an extremely damning report,"he said. "There has been a complete lack of leadership on this."

But he stressed that Boris Johnson had got many other things right - and said now was NOT the time for him to resign.

"I don’t want to throw out a PM when we are faced with a major military conflict by Russia against Ukraine on our doorstep in Europe, a serious cost of living crisis in the UK with energy costs doubling at least, inflation sky high and the coronavirus pandemic still ongoing," he said. "There is nobody for me who stands out at the moment to take over the leadership and to put somebody new in at this critcal time would be expecting too much of a new incumbent."

York panto dame Berwick Kaler, who was forced to miss the final days of his Grand Opera House panto Dick Turpin Rides Again after testing positive for Covid - even though he had no symptoms - also felt now was not the time for the PM to resign.

He himself had stuck 'religiously' to the rules, he said. And yes, the parties had been a 'very silly thing to do'.

But he said government insiders would not have been the only ones to have breached lockdown rules. And the way the story had been allowed to dominate the headlines for days - and the 'hatred' it had engendered - was 'sickening', he said.

"They are just people," he said. "He (the PM) should have said sorry straight away and not let it go on and on. But it's not the top of the agenda. I don't think people are that concerned about it."

Local politicians were less forgiving.

Cllr Carol Runciman, City of York Council's Liberal Democrat executive member for health and adult social care, said: "This truly is a Government in chaos.

"Whilst the cost of the living crisis is hitting families, social care and the NHS (are) continuing to face unprecedented pressure and the country is still grappling with the pandemic, the Prime Minister is at war with his own Members of Parliament and Downing Street lockdown parties are being investigated by the police.

“When people across York obeyed the lockdown rules, often at huge personal cost to keep each other safe as the virus gripped the city, the Prime Minister ignored his own rules. The extent of the rule breaking is clear to all.

“The Prime Minister has lost authority and is distracting attention from the real issues that people face. For the sake of the country, he must resign.”

York Central's Labour MP Rachael Maskell added: “Today should have been a moment for contrition and remorse, but the Prime Minister was too intent on defending himself to recognise the depth of pain his culture of partying has caused those who suffered and sacrificed. 
“It is clear that the Prime Minister has no insight into his own conduct, and no understanding of the meaning of “sorry”.

"A reorganisation of No.10 and the Cabinet Office will not address the culture that ensues under his leadership. Sue Gray’s report also highlighted a culture of bullying, where staff felt unable to raise their concerns about the Prime Minister’s conduct and that of his office. 
“Each day he runs from the truth damages our country; he must resign."