Christopher Eccleston brands Boris Johnson ‘inhuman scum’ after damning Partygate report

Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has branded Boris Johnson “inhuman” and “scum” following a damning verdict on the former prime minister’s conduct.

A report into Partygate has found that Johnson repeatedly lied to Parliament about gatherings in Downing Street during lockdown, and was “complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation” of the privileges committee.

Johnson has criticised the findings, calling them a “deranged conclusion” and accusing the Tory-majority group of MPs, who he has repeatedly sought to disparage, of lying.

In response to the verdict, Eccleston, a vocal critic of the Tory government, shared an unflattering photo of Johnson on his Instagram, writing: “Scum. Inhuman. Scum.”

Earlier this year, Eccleston was praised for his impassioned words on how the closure of Oldham’s historic Coliseum theatre will affect the acting community.

The Coliseum was closed in March after a failed campaign to save the venue, which became the biggest theatre outside London to lose its Arts Council England subsidy of £600,000 per year following a funding shake-up in November.

Eccleston, whose credits include Our Friends in the North, Doctor Who, 28 Days Later... and The Leftovers, appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to speak about the ramifications of the theatre’s closure for the acting community in the area.

“If you grow up in the North West, you don’t feel the culture and the arts belong to you. You don’t believe, if you come from a council estate, [that] you can be an actor, a poet or a painter,” he said.

He added that it was “impossible” to become an actor now if you hail from the north, adding: “Now, you’ve just got to go to public school, haven’t you? You’ve got to go to Oxbridge, otherwise you can’t act.”