Another fabulous Downing Street Party thread

[jgw1]

Just in case we need it.

He’s debating whether coming out fighting or being humbly contrite will buy him more time. But the MPs are circling with stories of true blue constituents who’ve had enough. And I also think genuinely some of the MPs who made real sacrifices themselves or saw their constituents make sacrifices are really troubled with the leaks, not just politically troubled.

The night of the long scapegoats... apple.news/AcwX0MHhuT2yYrbQgr1Wtpw (hope this works)!

This might work better; www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-prepares-mass-clearout-to-save-own-skin-73jcqds35

@JustJam4Tea

The Telegraph have a picture of Carrie sitting on a friends knee I. A rooftop bar in September 2020.

At the time, in September 2020, ministers had warned that Britain was facing a second wave of infections. The law prevented people from gathering in groups of more than six, other than for education, work, weddings and funerals.

There’s also strong rumours of parties in the no 10 flats. That’s why Big Dog is hiding they don’t know what else is coming out. She must have known who took the photo too, she clearly knows it’s being taken.

There are bound to be more pictures.

At the moment I’m thinking about the people who had to clear up the bottles and glasses after all this drinking during peak Covid anxiety and pre-vaccines.

Lord Kerslake, who used to be head of the civil service, has said of Downing street behaviour...

“It was ‘party on’ and nobody was saying ‘don’t do this’... . Once it started, it just got worse and worse. There was a lack of moral awareness."

But even more interesting he has said that the Sue Gray inquiry is no longer fit for purpose:

“When the inquiry started, it was about one event and we didn’t know that the prime minister was involved. Now we find that there were over a dozen events and not only is the prime minister implicated but he is front, back and centre of what happened."

“You cannot have a situation where a civil servant will make a pronouncement that could end the office of a prime minister. The consequence is that Sue Gray will inevitably have to stop short of that.”

[Quotations from The Guardian.]

Trevor Phillips this morning on Sky news this morning summed it all up perfectly.
I wasn't aware that his daughter died last year and he told Oliver Dowden today how he spent last April not being able to see her properly before she died or his other daughter who was pregnant at that time.
He said that his case was one among many of people following the rules whilst also dealing with a family loss.
Yet that MP had to try and defend these parties and the PM.
They are hanging everything on a report which will probably get them all off the hooks too , waiting to hear of if they were parties or not.
They should all listen to Mr Phillips and hang their heads in shame

I agree - it is beyond the remit of the original enquiry now, and there are too many different parts.

The Carrie Johnson picture demonstrates that they really weren’t taking the rules seriously despite telling other people that they couldn’t hug family members. Either they were needlessly causing huge anxiety or recklessly spreading Covid (particularly given the apparent working practices in Downing Street at the time)

However, while that undermines the claim that the Johnsons always followed the rules, she isn’t a member of staff so presumably can’t be part of the investigation.

And what are they trying to investigate anyway? The standard of behaviour we should be expecting is a lot higher than just ‘not a criminal’.

I bet no 10 leaked the Carrie Johnson picture in order to accelerate the boredom factor, or we’ve all done that factor. Control it’s release too.

The daily Mail headline online today is something about Harry and Meghan.
Their go to 'scandal' headlines ( it's about their security) to try and deviate away from the fact that the government has messed up.
It's so transparent it's laughable

@the80sweregreat

The daily Mail headline online today is something about Harry and Meghan. Their go to 'scandal' headlines ( it's about their security) to try and deviate away from the fact that the government has messed up. It's so transparent it's laughable

Yes!!! I am not a H&M fan, but they ate offering to pay the police costs. There is no scandal.

At No10 on the other hand...

I’m not convinced there will be a boredom factor.

People will want to move on, but I think a lot of people are still in shock.

The repercussions of Covid and the restrictions will continue to reverberate and I don’t think it will ever be possible to forget that Johnson either didn’t care about spreading Covid or believed that the restrictions were unnecessary and enforced them anyway.

It’s just so unfair. Johnson will get away with it, be back on the after dinner speaking circuit, be making £££ out if having been PM and never face the consequences.
The head of the task force having a leaving di is now leader of a council - a role paid £££ to lead and set strategy etc.
And the people who will lose out will be the junior staff fired for doing what their masters did.

Johnson will get away with it, be back on the after dinner speaking circuit, be making £££ out if having been PM and never face the consequences.
I'm not sure. I'd like to think he won't be in demand as he's done something below contempt.
I think the majority of people across society made huge personal sacrifices for the pandemic and won't want to see him/be around him. I hope he'll be "disgraced".
Struggling to think of another prime minister that's been in anything close to this situation, to know if I'm right.

E.g. who is going to buy his books? Invite him on HIGNFY? Pay for "consultancy" on how to run a business?
I really hope he's completely screwed himself this time

@AdamRyan I really hope you are right. But there are still people defending him, and he’s always been treated like a lovable rogue - I just have a feeling he will be able to turn this around.

@AdamRyan

E.g. who is going to buy his books? Invite him on HIGNFY? Pay for "consultancy" on how to run a business? I really hope he's completely screwed himself this time

He’s far too cowardly to go on HIGNFY or anything where people could challenge him.

His need to be loved and liked is a massive problem for him.

Oliver Dowden is telling us all it's ok, Johnson is going to change the no10 culture by sacking his staff

Oh and Williamson is up for a knighthood, BBC will have their funding cut, something about immigrants, blah, blah

Again @LittleBearPad I really hope you are right. He’s always just been able to treat everything as a bit of a joke. And there are enough people who clearly have also been up to it (eg the Sun guy, others in parliament) who won’t view it as wrong, just unfortunate he got caught. Even in my social circle not everyone is horrified.

@AdamRyan

E.g. who is going to buy his books? Invite him on HIGNFY? Pay for "consultancy" on how to run a business? I really hope he's completely screwed himself this time

He will be given another column in the Telegraph or the Spectator. All will be forgiven if he rants about the right things.

Around that time, I was driving into school to collect worksheets that teachers had printed out for children who didn’t have the tech they needed but who didn’t qualify for a school place, or whose parents didn’t want them in. I was then driving round the area delivering them. Also delivering to families that we needed to ‘check in with’. I wasn’t the only one from my school doing this. Used our own money to pay for the petrol. Did it willingly to ensure as best we could that our kids could at least all access their work and to ensure that those we had niggling concerns about were as ok as they could be with nothing solid to report for further action. I’d do it again but the thought that while I spent my own money (I’m a TA so it’s not as thought it’s an epic salary) supporting families and a lot of time worrying about the impact of his rules on some very vulnerable children, he was busy ignoring those rules and parrying makes me very angry.

Maybe the after dinner lot can get a deal on Bodger plus Prince Andrew, 2 scumbags for the price of one. Party! Wine!

And one day he might even be knighted as a former PM (I bloody hope not!)

@ENoeuf

It’s just so unfair. Johnson will get away with it, be back on the after dinner speaking circuit, be making £££ out if having been PM and never face the consequences. The head of the task force having a leaving di is now leader of a council - a role paid £££ to lead and set strategy etc. And the people who will lose out will be the junior staff fired for doing what their masters did.

I think that Johnson more than anything wants to be remembered as a great Prime Minister. No amount of money or public speaking gigs will achieve that. If people have a go everytime Tony Blair is mentioned for the war in Iraq, just think what it is going to be like for Boris. How long is it going to be before he can go out and about and not be heckled and jeered at?

@AdamRyan

E.g. who is going to buy his books? Invite him on HIGNFY? Pay for "consultancy" on how to run a business? I really hope he's completely screwed himself this time

Please can he be on HIGNFY next week. It would be brilliant. Do we need to start crowd funding to pay for it?

@Hearwego

If Boris goes there will be someone else equally as bad. It’s the same Tory party front benchers who are defending Boris. If anyone else takes over, they will be just as guilty. Very few Tory MPs are calling him out.

Agree with this totally but also wonder if this leads to Johnson's reign ending the next PM will be more aware of the standards they need to keep because otherwise they will no go.