Boris Johnson pulls OUT of visit after family member tests positive for Covid amid lockdown-breaking party fury

BORIS Johnson has dodged a planned event after a relative got Covid - just one day after a gruelling showdown over a lockdown-busting bash.

The Prime Minister had been due to visit a vaccination centre in Burnley and take part in a pooled TV interview where he would have faced further questions.

No10 said a family member had tested positive for Covid meaning Boris will not travel - even though he doesn't need to isolate.

Under his own government's rules, those who are fully jabbed - like the PM is - do not need to quarantine even if a member of their household tests positive.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister will no longer be visiting Lancashire today due to a family member testing positive for coronavirus.

"He will follow the guidance for vaccinated close contacts, including daily testing and limiting contact with others."

The axed public event comes after the embattled PM finally admitted attending the party in May 2020 in a dramatic Commons grilling.

But Boris claimed he was there for just 25 minutes and said the back garden bash was a "work event".

He was branded "pathetic" and told the public think he is "lying" as he finally faced the music yesterday in a heated PMQs.

He has faced mounting questions over the Downing Street party on May 20, 2020, during the first lockdown.

The event took place in his back garden and is said to have included wine and nibbles - at a time where people were only allowed to meet in pairs outdoors.

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Boris' Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds sent an email invite to more than 100 employees at No 10 - including advisers, speech-writers and door staff.

Less than an hour earlier, Cabinet Minister Oliver Dowden had begged the public at the daily press conference to stick to meeting in pairs outdoors.

Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Boris said: "I certainly wish that things would have happened differently on the evening of May the 20th.

"I apologise for all the misjudgements that have been made, for which I take full responsibility."

And he claimed he thought it was a "work event" where he thanked groups of staff "before going back into my office 25 minutes later".

He added: "With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside.

"I should have recognised that even if it did fall within the guidance, there would be millions of people who would simply not see it that way."

The under-fire PM offered his "heartfelt apologies" but got a battering from Sir Keir Starmer.

During a heated PMQs the Labour leader branded him "pathetic" and called on him to quit.

Sir Keir said "the British public think he's lying through his teeth" and raged: "Why does the Prime Minister still think that the rules don't apply to him?"

The PM is fighting for his job after becoming engulfed in a growing storm over an alleged string of No 10 parties.

Today a bombshell poll put Labour a whopping 10 points ahead of the Tories - it's biggest lead since December 2013.

The Conservatives have slumped by 5% in just a week to 28% of the vote share, according to the YouGov survey.

In a personal battering for the PM the study, which was carried out before his apology yesterday, showed six in 10 think he should resign.

And almost 80% of the public don't believe Boris has been honest with them about the No 10 parties.

The Prime Minister is the right person to be Prime Minister. I think we will be able to go forward and win a general election.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis

The Scottish Tories have already turned on him, with leader Douglas Ross and all 31 MSPs saying he must go.

But the Cabinet are backing their boss for now albeit the support from Chancellor Rishi Sunak last night was noticeably lukewarm.

Today Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis insisted Boris is the right person for the job and can win the next election.

And Conservative MP Christopher Chope described the prime minister's apology yesterday as "genuinely sincere".

He said: "I’ve never heard such an abject apology from a government minister in my 30-plus years in this place.

"I think that the prime minister showed contrition and he realised he had done the wrong thing in not intervening at the time and all the rest of it.

“I think when somebody makes an apology like that, reasonable people accept the apology - obviously with the caveat that this is continuing because there’s a continuing inquiry."

He said in the short term "this is a monumental relief to myself and lots of other colleagues because we didn't think he'd be able to carry on" if the PM did not come clean.