To ask if your essential meetings involve sitting around in the garden with wine and cheese, with your spouse in attendance?

[AlexaShutUp]

So the justification for the pictures of Boris in lockdown is that they were essential work meetings and therefore allowed. The wine and cheese was apparently because people were working long hours. I have seen no explanation of why Carrie was present.

Do you have essential work meetings of this nature? I don't.

AIBU to think that, in the midst of a pandemic, I'd rather that our decision makers stayed off the booze while carrying out their essential functions? And that unelected individuals who are not employed by the government in an official capacity have no business sitting in on such meetings?

I’m wondering whether the people who aren’t outraged by this also broke the rules last year and had regular get togethers with their buddies. It’s the only feasible reason not to be enraged with the government really.

I'm not defending it, mainly because I already knew they were a bunch of lying hypocrites. And it really angers me that people were not allowed to grieve with family, or be with dying relatives....but neither do I think everyone should ignore any potential further restrictions in response to it.

@Clavinova

Getyourarseofffthequattro Was it you or someone else who said oh it's not a risk they've all had COVID?

Not me.

hospital workers didn't make the rules
The rules were ... stupid

I don't think rules trying to prevent the spread of Covid amongst staff and patients in a hospital environment are 'stupid rules'.

I never said anything about the specific rules in hospitals. We're specifically talking about the rules the government have broken.

Are you struggling to comprehend?

ut it still makes me piss myself laughing when a few people deny the facts about him that are staring us in the face

Me too! The usual suspects bending over backwards to say this is all fine. It was just a business meeting!

2 metres away.... no
Business meeting parapharnalia...no
Wife and baby there.... yes
Wine and cheese platters.... yes

Honestly, it's laughable some of the mental gymnastics some of you are going through to make this OK.

I don't know about Omicron, but tory parties are doubling every 2 days!

Clav if you think that hospital workers should stick to the rules, do you believe they the government should also stick to the rules?

Because at the moment it seems as if you don’t.

@antisocialsocialclub it's a habit I strive to have to think the best of others intentions. There's a fancy term for it I don't recall though I'm sure Big Al Johnson knows it.😂

@starfro

If you've all had Covid already and you all work in a tiny building for 12hrs+ a day, you won't spread Covid by then having a drink in the Garden after work.

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

People really need trying to deflect playing by playing the misogyny card, nobody is saying she should not have been there because she is “just a wife”.

The question that remains here is if this was an official government then what was the sensitivity of the information being discussed and if anything sensitive was being discussed does Mrs Johnson have the appropriate clearances(s). Same question should always be asked…Mr May? Mr Thatcher?

There really are some jobs where you don’t really don’t get to share everything that was discussed/done at work with your partner when you get home, and you shouldn’t allow partner/family to overhear some discussions between yourself and colleagues.

…and of course if this wasn’t a meeting where government business was being discussed then what was going on?

The question that remains here is if this was an official government then what was the sensitivity of the information being discussed and if anything sensitive was being discussed does Mrs Johnson have the appropriate clearances(s)

^^ This.

Apart from the fact it illustrates 100% it was a social gathering, if not, why is she sat in on this so-called business meeting?
Imagine if there'd been a picture of Gordon Brown's wife sat in on a 'business meeting'. Or Theresa May's husband. The internet would be alight!
It's all very trump-esque

Getyourarseofffthequattro
I never said anything about the specific rules in hospitals.
Are you struggling to comprehend?

I posted;
I think the hospital gatherings are more concerning from a health point of view than the meeting in the Number 10 garden - apparently you do not.

You replied;
No I don't, because the hospital workers didn't make the rules.

@DdraigGoch

Oh yes, at one point we were only allowed wholemeal sandwiches, salad, fruit and water as catering for meetings involving external stakeholders. Nothing unhealthy. That was stuck for a few months then quietly dropped. Oxfordshire County Council have just banned all meat and dairy at council events.

@Clavinova

Getyourarseofffthequattro I never said anything about the specific rules in hospitals. Are you struggling to comprehend?

I posted;
I think the hospital gatherings are more concerning from a health point of view than the meeting in the Number 10 garden - apparently you do not.

You replied;
No I don't, because the hospital workers didn't make the rules.

Yes.... I am aware of what you said.

The issue is that you think everyone else should follow "the rules" except the government.

Why is that?

noblegiraffe
if you think that hospital workers should stick to the rules, do you believe they the government should also stick to the rules?

I think hospital staff work in an environment where following the rules is important - not least to vulnerable patients.

Ahhh... but the Government and PM who sets the rules, don't have to follow them.
Got you.

The question that remains here is if this was an official government then what was the sensitivity of the information being discussed and if anything sensitive was being discussed does Mrs Johnson have the appropriate clearances(s)

I thought this too but Dominic Raab just said on the news it was a post meeting get together so I’m guessing that’s why Carrie was there. But then, that’s a social get together not a meeting so was breaking the rules! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Getyourarseofffthequattro
The issue is that you think everyone else should follow "the rules" except the government.

I think the concerning issue is that you think hospital staff shouldn't follow 'the rules' because they didn't make 'the rules'.

Those that 'make the rules' should set an example, they should be stringent and adhere to the rules to show the general public it is the right thing to do.
(Unless you're a Tory of course, then you can break every rule going and call a wine and cheese social 'a business meeting')

@Clavinova

noblegiraffe if you think that hospital workers should stick to the rules, do you believe they the government should also stick to the rules?

I think hospital staff work in an environment where following the rules is important - not least to vulnerable patients.

As do those working in No 10. Who were, as the photo indicates, doing their jobs alongside a neonate and a new mother. I'd hope we would all consider both of them to be deserving of particular care at that point, whatever we might think of Johnson himself.

When I worked for a church bread and wine was a very common occurrence

I think some of these posts people are being deliberately obtuse. I’m sure people do know that meetings without laptops and a glass of wine and nibbles do exist and quite often and that likely Carrie popped out as she was there, and she was solely next to Boris and socially distanced, I very much doubt looking at the attire they were simply invited to a cheese and wine party.

The reason this was stupid is because it can be weaponised. It doesn’t matter if it was a glass of wine outside at the end of the meeting and perfectly legal as they continued to discuss work items. What matter is it can be weaponised against Boris becayse the optics can be deliberately misconstrued.

In answer to the question in the title I would say regularly.
Dh has had regular business meetings on one company owners yacht where partners were invited. The yacht didn’t go anywhere but it was a fully catered day.
I think the yacht was a company asset and a tax right off so had to be used regularly.

Another company, because the job entailed being away 2-3 weeks in every 4 and then back in the U.K. office for the rest of the month the company would have regular business meetings where partners were included. Again all fully catered. All involved alcohol and food.

If you look closely at the photo some people are wearing masks, they are in business suits and they work together so I am not sure what the fuss is about.

I work with hundreds of different people everyday with no masks, no SD because of the type of work we do and have done apart from the first lockdown. I can’t see the problem with having a drink with people you work with especially at the end of the job.

Last week someone popped the Prosecco because it was Friday.

I think there are a lot of companies particularly in certain sectors where this is the norm. Just because it doesn’t happen in their sector doesn’t mean no one else should do it

VikingOnTheFridge
as the photo indicates

The photo indicates that Carrie Johnson is sitting some distance away from the majority of staff in the garden.

@Clavinova

noblegiraffe if you think that hospital workers should stick to the rules, do you believe they the government should also stick to the rules?

I think hospital staff work in an environment where following the rules is important - not least to vulnerable patients.

So to clarify, you don’t think it is important for the government to follow its own rules?

Who else do you think should be allowed to break the rules?

Wouldn’t it be easier to just have two sets of rules? One for them (very lax) and one for the rest of us (very strict)? That is what seems to been happening so a clarification that that is actually the case would clear up all this confusion.

You've got to give it to the Tory posters, so much to defend, so much time on their hands.

The govt had all the data at their disposal. So was it not as bad as they made out? Or were they stupid?

What matter is it can be weaponised against Boris becayse the optics can be deliberately misconstrued

If you think this was an unfortunate incident that merely looked bad, how do you explain all the other incidents of government rule breaking that have come to light over the pandemic?

Was Cummings trip to Barnard Castle a legal trip with poor optics or was it exactly the sort of thing they were all up to all the time?

I don't think this can be misconstrued.

On the very day 19 of them were quaffing wine and cheese, this was put out by the Government.

On your own or
With people you live with, or
With just one other person

@AlexaShutUp

Of course Carrie is just a wife. She hasn't been elected to public office and she isn't employed by the government either. It has nothing to do with misogyny and everything to do with accountability. There are no structures in place to hold her accountable. She should keep her beak out.

She wasn't a wife at the time. Not terribly relevant but just a fact. I suppose with the number of "relationships" he apparently has it could be relevant, who knows who else sits in on meetings because they are with Boris.