Boris and his fines part 4

[Roussette]

Previous thread. More to come on the subject matter

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4536641-boris-has-been-fined-part-3?reply=117100091

'Can you perhaps help me by telling me at which one it was said that it was absolutely fine for people to work together to drink together.'

It is a grey line I admit we'll just have to wait and see if Durham police decide Starmer's beers were essential or not won't we.

Indeed we will.

And he'll be gone if he gets a FPN.

And where does that leave Labour and more importantly BJ?

@JaniieJones Are you saying that despite all the Downing Street briefings it was never make clear it was ok to party, eat cake and booze with those you work with?

Why do you think it was never mentioned?

'And where does that leave Labour and more importantly BJ?'

Labour surely can't be any worse off without him and it will leave BJ exactly where he is now. He isn't the one who has harped on for months about resignations for what is turning out to be a tit for tat circus.

So the Ministerial Code is meaningless Janie?

"He isn't the one who has harped on for months about resignations"

Well the charlatan you support lied repeatedly about parties even happening .

@JaniieJones Where Johnson is now is that he is a laughing stock, heck even raffling a bottle of booze has caused him to be laughed at.
I do agree that Starmer going will leave Johnson exactly where he is, a laughing stock that many many voters are very angry with.

See for instance.

www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html

Labour surely can't be any worse off without him

They’re currently ten points ahead in the polls. 🤷‍♀️

Oh, which poll is that?

I don't call 18 parties and 100+ fpn's tit for tat actually

'All guidance was followed'
'No rules were broken'
'We did the right thing'
'All the guidelines was observed'
'People within this building have stayed within the rules'
'I certainly broke no rules'

Direct quotes.

Embarrassing to defend this

They won't be fining for what he ate and drank.

The same way they didn't find Johnson because it was cake he was eating. He was fined because he held an event with non work members present which wasn't a work event or work meeting.

You've omitted a specific important exemption:

"the gathering is reasonably necessary for the purposes of campaigning in an election or a referendum"

Again - even though you have been told this lots of time

Essential / necessary event
Non essential event

The whole purpose was to try and reduce unnecessary interactions whilst ensuring work could go on.

Do you ever wonder what the Covid risk assessment was for Downing Street? Do you think they had a chat about the best way to reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus?

Do you not think that there were people who were trying to do the right thing - especially in the early months when levels were high, people were dying, vaccinations were still a pipe dream - and then people in Number 10 thought it would be a good idea to have a fucking gathering to celebrate Boris's birthday?

I wonder if anyone thought - what the fuck is this? This is not a good idea.

Did they even listen to themselves in the press conferences?

And it was different in April 2021. You know that. Lots of people know that.

Don't forget that Johnson had supposedly been seriously ill with Covid. You would think that this would have made him more cautious.

This quote explains a lot

Boris Johnson on wfh culture: 'You spend an awful lot of time making another cup of coffee, getting up, walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back and then forgetting what it was you're doing...'

This quote explains a lot

a) How would Johnson know? He doesn't seem to know the difference between work and a party.
b) That sounds like a description of getting old to me.

I remember early on in lockdown reading somewhere that BJ had been shocked at the impact of lockdown on the economy as he hadn't expected the public to adhere to the requirements so well

Now, it's all explained: he wasn't following the rules and had thought that the rest of country would similarly be ignoring them

He assumed that others would have his low morality.

That sounds like a description of getting old to me.

That or just being an idle arse by nature.

I heard similar about him being surprised at the compliance of the country at the time.

I also think there's a lot to be read into his continuous comments about "reasonably necessary for work". I think it maybe his way of partying in the workplace and passing it off as reasonably necessary.

All Ministers are expected to work from home aren't they? That's why they have the red box? So are they all just wondering around with cheese instead?

How could Boris Johnson and his government be surprised when there wasn't much choice in the matter ? Everything was shut , people were having to follow arrows in some supermarkets that could open or ( in one case) being shouted at by loud hailers for not queueing up properly outside one shop or being grilled about what you needed to buy! That's without all the restrictions around hospitals , meeting up for funerals or weddings etc and all the rules about meeting in people's gardens ! Mask wearing , wfh , tier systems etc. it was neverending!
Did they expect people to break into non essential shops ? Those that did break rules were fined ! Yet he didn't expect anyone to follow their own rules?
It is bizarre and the fact that many did stick to the restrictions means it's now a stick to beat us with it seems. People were genuinely concerned about catching this.

When we see Grant Shapps with his carefully posed room, with red boxes, flags and his book on view, does Johnson think he is working - or just eating cheese?

I wonder if any journalist will ask a Minister who is WFH if they are working or just eating cheese - or does Johnson just thinks it's certain people who are being lazy when WFH?

People generally expect others to behave as they do themselves. This is why Bozo's standards, and those of the people who surround him and support him, are so low.

I thought it was government and advisors who were concerned about compliance

but it was in the end high for U.K. public

the messaging approach worked very effectively

Steven Swinford (Times)

Ministers opened Cabinet by singing happy birthday to Rishi Sunak, who turned 42 on Thursday

They made light of partygate, shouting ‘Where’s the cake’ in reference to Johnson and Sunak’s fines for breaking lockdown rules

Ministers confident Johnson will survive

It's all just one big joke to them.