To be really enjoying Boris Johnson's downfall Part 3 Cake ambush

[Notonthestairs]

To be really enjoying Boris Johnson's downfall Part 2 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/4459992-To-be-really-enjoying-Boris-Johnsons-downfall-Part-2

And on it goes.

It is total rubbish to "blame" Coyle for referring the matter to the police. He and Barry Gardiner* wrote to the Met about the parties. The Met response that "in the absence of evidence and in line with our policy not to investigate retrospective breaches of such Regulations, the Met will not commence an investigation at this time."

So this current investigation was only opened because of information Sue Grey obtained and handed to the Met.

*I predict a derail about BG might be incoming.

@Florianus Who were the "colleagues" to which you refer? the ones attending the illegal parties. Let’s not split hairs. You know as well as I do that parties happened, Johnson has had to admit as much!

If they hadn’t acted in such a way that the rest of the UK population was banned from doing there wouldn’t be so much outrage would there?

They expected us to comply, to know right from wrong, but they didn’t themselves. Their actions are destroying trust in public office.

@Florianus

Alexandra2001: It was Sue Gray who referred the 'parties and what she uncovered to the Met & this triggered their so called investigation.

Well, whoever it was has probably succeeded in kicking everything down the road for a long time to come.

Looking back & with hindsight, we've all been had, it was always going happen like this... Internal investigation on your boss, commissioned by your boss, followed by the contingency of a Police inquiry should the internal report prove to be damming, kicking the whole process into the long grass

The next delay will be when the investigation is in the hands of the CPS... followed by "Not in the Public Interest to Prosecute"

Remember who extended Dicks tenure in office very recently?

Maxwell. I've expressed myself badly, my point was that some people find the power itself attractive and will cleave to whoever appears to have it in their gift, regardless of other factors. I'm not of that ilk and find it bewildering. I will never forget how 'lit up' my young colleague was when he appeared. It was quite unnerving. Where some see power and wealth, other see sleazy conman, I suppose it's a matter of individual perception.

Looking back & with hindsight, we've all been had

I think the limitations of the enquiry were always clear.

It’s the Tories and Boris who have been trying to use it to kick the can down the road.

All it can do is confirm things that we already know.

However I expect Cummings is keeping a few things back for May. It’s clear that he always despised his boss and kept notes.

Haven’t we known since the MET got involved that Sue Grays report wouldn’t include the events they’re investigating? I’m sure I referred to it as Sue Gray’s partial report earlier in this thread. I’m not taking anything away from the fact I don’t trust Cressida to be transparent in the slightest but I didn’t think this was news

....my point was that some people find the power itself attractive and will cleave to whoever appears to have it in their gift, regardless of other factors.

I certainly feel that with Carrie Johnson. Once he's eventually out of No 10, and probably out of politics altogether, divorce papers will be served.

I think this is what Johnson and his lawyers want. However I don't think it helps the Tory party one little bit. Johnson hanging on by his finger nails as undoubtedly more and more scandals leak is not going to play well in the May elections. Winning a battle and losing the war. He's not a strategic thinker.

How long can the Met string this out, though? The facts of the birthday party, for instance, seem pretty clear cut. In theory at least all they have to do is present that to the CPS and ask whether those facts indicate law breaking. They didn't take weeks to decide before charging people who held parties at the time.

ClaudineClare:
So this current investigation was only opened because of information Sue Grey obtained and handed to the Met.

As I said (you perhaps missed it), whoever it was who succeeded in getting the Met to investigate has almost certainly kicked the matter down the road for a long time to come.

@Cornettoninja

Haven’t we known since the MET got involved that Sue Grays report wouldn’t include the events they’re investigating? I’m sure I referred to it as Sue Gray’s partial report earlier in this thread. I’m not taking anything away from the fact I don’t trust Cressida to be transparent in the slightest but I didn’t think this was news

The Met themselves originally said that their investigation should not affect publication of the report. Indeed, it is not at all clear why it would. There isn't usually a reporting ban on matters at the investigation stage.

Tugendhat for PM?

It was certainly how my mind was thinking - all the others Truss, Raab, Patel, Sunak, Javid are tainted by being too close to Johnson, and Hunt is a has-been, who is partly tainted by the time he was in charge of the NHS.

22itsallnew:
@Florianus Who were the "colleagues" to which you refer? the ones attending the illegal parties. Let’s not split hairs. You know as well as I do that parties happened, Johnson has had to admit as much!

We know all that. I asked who these colleagues were that you mentioned - but you don't seem to know when asked!

The only thing that actually might be more complicated is if people were ordered to clean their phones etc. That strays into perverting the course of justice. Not producing the report in full does more damage than not, so you might assume it's so damaging to Johnson he's have no choice but to go.

Peston's latest tweet
The report by Sue Gray into Downing St parties was “finished” a few days ago, but this morning the inquiry team say “the investigation being carried out by Sue Gray is continuing and there is ongoing contact with the Metropolitan Police Service”. This is all very confusing…

@Peregrina

Tugendhat for PM?

It was certainly how my mind was thinking - all the others Truss, Raab, Patel, Sunak, Javid are tainted by being too close to Johnson, and Hunt is a has-been, who is partly tainted by the time he was in charge of the NHS.

Yes i think if BJ is removed, a back bencher will be the next PM, another contender could be Tobias Ellwood. I wouldn't dismiss Hunt either.

Truss will now have the private jet thrown back at her... pity not literally!

Maybe she's on the case of the disappearing cake. They now say there was no cake when previously there had been a cake. There's a collective existential cake crisis at the heart of government.

Hunt and Mordaunt were being touted on BBC South last week

Alexandra2001:
Yes i think if BJ is removed, a back bencher will be the next PM, another contender could be Tobias Ellwood. I wouldn't dismiss Hunt either.

Anyone without experience of running a department and working in cabinet would be very risky to vote in as PM. Jeremy Hunt, as you say, might be a possibility but people remember him as the man who ran down the NHS. (There isn't much viable choice, which is why Johnson may in the end remain).

Johnson undone by parties. Truss undone by a Jumbo Jet. Whats Sunak's undoing? The billions wiped off from covid fraud. Not sure that cuts through. I think anyone in this cabinet is tainted by association with Johnson. He sullies all he goes near.

Tugendhat? Yes. Of the rabble on offer he's head and shoulders above them. Will the headbangers accept him? Probably not.

Mr Hunt. I recall reading that his staff called him 'Jeremy Hunt, spelled with a C'. Can't give the reference, was years ago when doing for the NHS.

Thanks @CryingAtTheDiscotheque. I wonder where I picked that up then? It may have been early speculation.

I actually don't think Johnson had that much to do with the parties. But he shouldn't have allowed them to happen. It feels like he can't say no to Carrie though.

It's the lying I can't stomach. He should have come out weeks ago and apologised.

We can't have a PM who blatantly lies. I've always thought our politics was relatively clean and respectable compared to some European countries. But not any more. It's embarrassing, and even worse is that there are a lot of people who still support Johnson and therefore condone our top public figures lying.

It's a fecking joke. Whether or not the met are "responsible" for the delays, it seems to be confirmed that there are elements they don't want reported .If only they'd pulled their fingers out and got on with an investigation in a timely manner