Boris stands down as MP with immediate effect part 2

[IClaudine]

New thread!

I don’t think it massively changes his thinking either way tbh. He’ll just double down on the witch hunt narrative.

I wonder if others (JRM, Fabricant) involved in that campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation will have a reckoning as well?

It surely has to be the next step in clearing up politics.

Thanks @DuncinToffee. I’m wondering what has been cited as examples of abuse and intimidation. I’ll keep an eye out to see if that’s expanded on

No former parliamenatairans pass either that will sting.
I wonder what the sanction was before Friday's outburst.

Can't believe I'm expected to work today.

It shows what a complete crock of shit the lockdown rules were that the people who imposed them on us knew they were pointless and repressive and ignored them themselves.

I think Parliament has to approve the no pass sanction? So it might not happen.

I’ve got one ear on LBC and am listening to callers/reporting. It’s clear that people really can’t take being wrong or at least accepting their world view isn’t as revered as they themselves think it should be.

At some point you have to accept that even if you yourself have the capacity to overlook certain elements there’s no compulsion for the rest of society to agree with you. Ultimately, whilst there is no doubt influence from propaganda on every side, people are largely guided by their own compass.

Full report

https://t.co/JpR21RgFch

No it doesn't

In your view.

there are still plenty of people(myself included) that aren’t condemning the actual rules but the rule breakers in this scenario.

There’s lots of grey areas with the response to Covid but imho this isn’t one of them and a bigger discussion than this one.

Lockdown rules will be part of the Covid-19 Inquiry

Fuck me, it's really bad.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

What an amazing coincidence that @Janiie and @Clavinova are both busy today and won't be able to share their wisdom with us. 😉

They're like Doomsday Cult followers. The world doesn't end, but they continue to believe.

Very pleased at the depth of this report on Johnson and just how unacceptable his behaviour was, it goes further than I dared to think it might and I’m very glad he is being called out for the deceitful chancer that he is. A good day.

Good riddance to bad rubbish
He was never fit for office
Completely indefensible yet still people are
Hes almost as Trumpian as Trump

The man who spent a lifetime thinking the rules didn't apply to him finally finds out that actually they do.

@jgw1 @Janiie

https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1669266831796838402?s=20

"Mr Johnson was also unable to explain why he considered his wife and interior designer “absolutely necessary participants” in a work-related meeting."

Committee damning about PM's birthday party, which he has repeatedly tried to dismiss as a trivial work meeting.

Lib Dem deputy leader says:

This damning report should be the final nail in the coffin for Boris Johnson’s political career.

It is completely unprecedented for a former prime minister to be found to have been a law-breaker and serial liar, who treated the public and parliament with total disdain.

Rishi Sunak must cut off Johnson’s ex-prime minister allowance to stop him milking the public purse for his own personal gain.

Anything less would be an insult to bereaved families who suffered while Boris Johnson lied and partied.

It would be nice if this happened but I doubt it will.

Well said.

Boris Johnson’s team is now circulating a 6-point analysis purportedly explaining why the privileges committee report is flawed. It does not seem to be available online, so, for the record, here it is.

1) This is a kangaroo court. The Committee has been a kangaroo court from the outset and as Lord Pannick KC has repeatedly pointed out it has acted as judge and jury in its own case in a way that is contrary to all legal practice.

2) The Committee has contradicted the police’s own findings - setting itself above the law. The Committee has been so desperate to convict Boris Johnson that it has now said that all workplace events – thank yous and birthdays and motivational meetings – were illegal. That is insane, and has no basis in the law. The committee’s view is contradicted by what the Metropolitan Police themselves found - the police said that Boris Johnson did not break the rules by attending the farewell events.

3) The Committee claims to know exactly what Boris saw at certain times and dates despite there being no evidence for this - as if the Committee were inside his head. It has been driven to claim that it knows what Boris Johnson saw with his own eyes, and that he “must have known” that the event on Dec 18 2020 was illegal because he “must have seen it” as he went up the stairs to his flat. This is just crazy. The Committee has no idea what was going on or what Boris Johnson saw. In fact, he saw nothing that struck him as being remotely untoward. The Committee is just making things up.

4) If Boris Johnson must have known this was illegal, others did too - the Committee’s logic is that dozens of other figures also knew. The committee’s entire argument is that Boris Johnson “Must have known” that events were illegal. This is rubbish. If Boris Johnson must have known, then what about Rishi Sunak, Simon Case, Sue Gray and all the other senior figures who were roving the corridors of Downing Street? Why didn’t they know?

5) The report uses slight of hand by mischaracterising Boris’s statements. The Committee continually twists what Boris Johnson said in the House, claiming that he was offering general comments when he was in fact talking about specific events.

6) How is this process fair - especially given allegations that Committee members were at rule breaking events? If all thank-yous and birthdays were illegal, then how does Sir Bernard Jenkin justify his attendance at his wife’s birthday party, where the rules seem plainly to have been broken?

I am sure we will see all of the above aired here by some...

Boris's reaction is from the same script Trump uses.

"This is rubbish"
"It is a lie"
"deranged conclusion"

"patently absurd"
"I didn’t think for one minute that a committee of MPs could find against me"
"I didn’t see how any reasonable person could fail to understand what had happened"
"Tripe."

The "analysis" by Johnson's team conveniently misses out the salient point: he lied to Parliament.

1. The Privileges Committee is an internal committee acting in accordance with the instructions and processes prescribed by Parliament. It is not a court of law. Obviously lying under oath is considered a bit more serious so be careful what you wish for.
2. Legislation limited meetings (any meeting) to those absolutely necessary for the purposes of carrying out work.
3. The Commitee visted Downing Street to see for themselves whether from the hallway/stairwell to the flat you could see in to the press room and concluded you could.
4. They were not being investigated and have not, to my knowledge, lied to the House of Commons.
5. He made no reference to specific events. All guidance was followed etc etc.
6. Again Parliament did not instruct the Committee to investigate other MPs and to my knowledge they aren't on record lying to the house.