To think we don't need to wait for Sue Gray's report

[Poetrypatty]

We know there were all these parties because people have coughed to them, even the PM. Sue Gray's report is neither here nor there.

It's utterly ridiculous that Sue Grey is leading a report to investigate her own boss and possibly Simon Case who was also at one of these parties.
You couldn't make it up.
Time wasting and money wasting.

We all know what happened. Why do we need a report about it?
Why does this shitty party continually get away with their obnoxious behaviour and be allowed to treat the public as idiots.

Couldn't agree more.

I don't understand what she could uncover that is possibly going to make it be any better than what has already been admitted to.

For the sake of the Tories. They were traumatised for years after getting rid of Thatcher. They want someone else to deliver judgment so they don't have to be 'disloyal' while defenestrating Johnson.

Yes what a waste of time and money?!
We don’t need Sue Grey to tell us what we already know.

It’s a load of rubbish. Just stalling. There’s no way she’s going to say they were unlawful

Time wasting and money wasting

It really is. And it's an insult to our intelligence.

Yanbu!

Gives a spurious reason to say no comment..

It would be interesting to add up how much this government has spent on inquiries into things Boris Johnson already knows the answer to, but won’t tell the truth about.

It would be interesting to add up how much this government has spent on inquiries into things Boris Johnson already knows the answer to, but won’t tell the truth about

Yes 100%. And this is taxpayers money presumably, so we are paying to look into this

Agree its pointless and a waste if money. Especially as she is not an independent or neutral person or party.
Its a stalling technique, to make it seem that maybe there was some mitigating circumstance she is going to miraculously uncover.....despite the fact there is email evidence, witnesses, attendees and photographs.🙄
I literally can't think how her conclusion will be any different from what has already been reported

It’s an utter waste of time. Purely a stalling technique.

Apparently she’s concerned Downing Street staff aren’t being completely honest.

Well no shit Sherlock

It’s insulting. It’s about as necessary as holding an inquiry to find out if the cat killed the hamster when the cat is stood in front of you with the hamster clamped between its jaws.

To be able to get up and go back to ‘work’ each day when everyone knows you are a lying, hypocritical, cowardly, lazy and incompetent gobshite says a lot about the person we are dealing with. Entitled, shameless twat,

Totally agree.

Boris Johnson is using distract and delay tactics, while he begs all his journalist mates to get other stories on the front page.

Sue Grey works for him.

Imagine if I threw a party during lockdown and then police came round and I said “terribly sorry if you feel the party was inappropriate, I will ask one of my employees to investigate if I did anything wrong and let you know.” I’d have been arrested and fined. As many people were.

(Those fines should all be refunded on the basis that the police applied the law inconsistently and arbitrarily. There are police on the doorstep of Downing St every day. Why weren’t the parties investigated at the time?!! Why didn’t the police intervene when they heard blaring music and saw caterers arriving and people heaving huge bags of booze around?)

Pathetic. But not as pathetic as all the MPs refusing to hold a vote of no confidence because they’re worried about their own careers. Why can’t they just pick another Conservative at random and make them leader? They can’t do any worse than BJ.

Her name is so well known now. I think that they are trying to indelibly attach the outcome of the report to her. So the blame or negative reaction will be connected to her name rather than Johnson's. Another way of throwing someone else under the bus.

Unless it is considered a novelty to have a woman with so much supposed power.

@Badnightguaranteed

Yes what a waste of time and money?! We don’t need Sue Grey to tell us what we already know.

I agree and it is absolutely ridiculous and a national embarrassment.

The culture of parties at number 10 prior to the vaccine rollout were probably super spreader events. The attendees of those parties then went out in the community, no doubt infecting large numbers of people.

It was the Civil Servants' fault.
That's what SG will find. The CSts actually did 95% of the wrong decisions.
I mean, fire the politicians -- hound them out, whatever. Say they set the wrong tone & expectations.
But the blame is going to pile very high on Civil Servants.

imho, this is going to be a short-lived rough storm for the politicians but a potential long-term catastrophe for the Civil Service.

All Sue Grey is going to do is bollock some civil servants who will fall on the swords while the PM sails onwards.

No report is going to lead to Boris's resignation. That will only happen if those behind him in the House of Commons stage a coup. The man has shown that he is happy justifying any behaviour short of clear and major criminality both for himself and his political allies. He has no care for standards in public life. No doubt the report will claim that anything he did was "unintentional" and that he "was not aware" of key facts, just like in the case of the brownlee bung for the flat renovation. Any information that appears that contradicts that line will just be ignored as it was with texts on the flat.

Of course, I have no sympathy for the civil servants here, I expect much, much better from them than to follow the lead of a bunch of morally bankrupt charlatans. These are people that issue directives across the rest of the civil service and beyond and they should be held to the highest standards.

All of them need to go.

(Those fines should all be refunded on the basis that the police applied the law inconsistently and arbitrarily. There are police on the doorstep of Downing St every day. Why weren’t the parties investigated at the time?!! Why didn’t the police intervene when they heard blaring music and saw caterers arriving and people heaving huge bags of booze around?)

I can't see how they can not refund the fines, if they aren't going to fine the PM. It's very unfair.

But the blame is going to pile very high on Civil Servants

Agree they will be throwing civil servants under a bus. One of them surely will do a tell all to a newspaper or TV news though.

No doubt the report will claim that anything he did was "unintentional" and that he "was not aware" of key facts, just like in the case of the brownlee bung for the flat renovation. Any information that appears that contradicts that line will just be ignored as it was with texts on the flat

It's bound to, and it seems to me suspicious that they already have so much faith in Sue's report. They clearly think it's a get out clause for the PM. Madness since he's already 'apologised' to parliament and to the Queen.

@lljkk

It was the Civil Servants' fault. That's what SG will find. The CSts actually did 95% of the wrong decisions. I mean, fire the politicians -- hound them out, whatever. Say they set the wrong tone & expectations. But the blame is going to pile very high on Civil Servants.

imho, this is going to be a short-lived rough storm for the politicians but a potential long-term catastrophe for the Civil Service.

A CEO doesn't have the luxury of just letting his or her staff take the blame and just carry on regardless. They are accountable and responsible.

Boris is the CEO. Regardless of who else made bad decisions, he needs to go.

The police are dragging their feet aren't they. The parties happened. That means a criminal investigation could go ahead, and circumvent the unlikehood of Boris letting the facts get out ....seizing documents etc should have happened way back. Except as the police have turned their usual blind eye magically no diary entry will be found. Pictures will seemingly evaporate and no receipts were ever claimed.

There is still a lot of support amongst his party though , one was on lbc just now , 26 have backed him , several people I know just say it's a ' witch hunt '.
Then there is ' operation , save big dog' which sounds like Gray will sacrifice a few people nobody has ever heard of too.

@Poetrypatty

No doubt the report will claim that anything he did was "unintentional" and that he "was not aware" of key facts, just like in the case of the brownlee bung for the flat renovation. Any information that appears that contradicts that line will just be ignored as it was with texts on the flat

It's bound to, and it seems to me suspicious that they already have so much faith in Sue's report. They clearly think it's a get out clause for the PM. Madness since he's already 'apologised' to parliament and to the Queen.

It's very yes minister... "Don't agree to an inquiry until you know what the results of that inquiry will be".

We have a Prime Minister who is happy living in the murky grey areas of what is acceptable behaviour. Relying on a very stretched version of plausible deniability and ensuring others get blamed wherever possible. This not what I want from a Prime Minister.

I, however, have absolutely no faith in the Tory party to do anything about it. Then again, I've never had any faith in the Tory party.