Partygate: Boris Johnson resignation petition by Welsh nurse

Matthew Tovey, a nurse who worked on a High-Dependancy ward in South Wales throughout the pandemic, set up the Change.org petition after Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were issued with fines over lockdown-breaking parties held in Downing Street.

"At the same time that No. 10 were partying in the Downing Street gardens, I was working 12 hour shifts in the NHS - in full PPE - in the corridors of hospitals that had started to resemble battlefields," Mr Tovey's petition reads.

"In May 2020, my colleagues and I were struggling to save lives. 

"There were too many patients and nowhere near enough staff.

"Boris Johnson has said that Downing Street was full of 'people working phenomenally hard under phenomenal strain'.

"I do not believe that in 2020 their jobs were more stressful than our jobs, on the front lines.

"I do not understand why this means they were allowed to break the rules whilst myself, and my colleagues, worked hard to keep people safe.

"It was a horrible time.

"We weren’t thinking about partying. We were just missing our families.

"It was so stressful and there was nothing we could do to make things better.

"I do not believe that anyone who breaks the law should be allowed to remain Prime Minister or Chancellor."

Since the UK Government announced its below-inflation pay rise for NHS staff last year, Mr Tovey has been active with the NHS Workers Say No campaign, calling for pay in the service to keep up with rising living costs.

He’s organized protest marches, put together an all-Wales Facebook group for NHS staff to connect, and last summer he travelled to 10 Downing Street to personally deliver another petition - signed by more than 800,000 people - calling for a 15 per cent NHS pay rise.

It's estimated that NHS workers have undergone real-terms pay cuts of thousands of pounds a year during a decade of austerity.

Matthew Tovey presents his petition to Downing Street (Photo: Matthew Tovey)

Mr Tovey told The National last year that working during the pandemic had been "soul-destroying".

"Morale is on the floor," he said at the time.

"Even when you're not in work, you’re thinking about work – if that makes sense.

“What's going to happen on my shift? Will we have enough staff? Are there going to be enough beds?

“Have I missed something?”

On Tuesday, Boris Johnson became the first prime minister to be hit with criminal sanctions while in office, after a 2020 birthday party held for him in Downing Street broke his own Covid lockdown rules.

The Prime Minister, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have all apologised and confirmed they had paid fines imposed by the Metropolitan Police over the incident.

Both Mark Drakeford and Nicola Sturgeon have called for the PM to resign, alongside UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and groups representing families bereaved by Covid.

Though both the PM and Chancellor said they now accepted that rules had been broken, neither appear to be considering their positions.

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Cabinet ministers have tweeted in support of Mr Johnson, praising his leadership during Covid and Brexit, and also emphasising an apparent need for leadership continuity during the war in Ukraine.

However, the PM did not rule out the prospect he could be fined again for further events.

He is reported to have attended six of the 12 currently under investigation by the Met Police.

The latest fines came in a further tranche of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) announced by Scotland Yard in relation to Operation Hillman, which is probing possible Covid breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall.

More than 50 fines have been referred to the Acro Criminal Records Office since the inquiry started.

Additional reporting: PA Wire