AIBU to say that people in the “real world” absolutely do care about Downing Street parties?

[PuzzledObserver]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60318610

According to Mark Spencer MP, the new leader of the House of Commons, people don’t care about partygate because what really matters to them is their jobs, NHS backlogs and energy prices.

Personally I am capable of caring about all of those AND being incensed by the “do what I say not what I do” attitude of certain members of the Government and its officials.

YABU = of course nobody cares, move on

YANBU = it absolutely matters that they told us one thing and did another themselves.

I knew plenty of lockdown rule breakers
I know plenty of people who followed it to the letter too
I expected our leaders to obey the rules
It may seem 'black or white ' to many , but I thought they would do this.
They didn't and it hurts to think they couldn't.
That's how I feel , but I know it's not a big deal to some others.

@CaveWoman1

Seriously those saying they don’t care are missing the point completely. Whilst the rest of us were struggling under the pressure of a pandemic, obeying the rules this Govt. set for us, foregoing last chances to say goodbye to dying relatives, cutting our social contacts, suffering new degrees of loneliness & isolation, raising babies alone, without support networks or toddler groups or normal community activities - children scared & confused & stripped of their normal routines; ALL OF THAT……….

Whilst we followed the fucking rules, the people who set them wilfully broke them to have parties whilst everyone else was going through hell.

It makes me so so angry & they have outed themselves for the selfish, ignorant villains that they are. Moreover they have completely lost the moral authority to impose another set of rules upon us, so in effect this Govt. cannot lead. No-one will take them at their word ever again. So it matters & this is why I don’t understand people who say “I don’t care.” It’s a strange response given the above.

Sorry to hear this @CaveWoman1

I can't speak for all the people who aren't very bothered about it, but I'm guessing that many of us didn't particularly feel that we were going through hell and indeed took a fast-and-loose attitude to the rules ourselves.

The parties seem to me to be almost a non-issue. I would have been fairly sure that this sort of thing was going on knowing what sort of operation Johnson is running and what sort of person he is. It hardly seems a surprise. We elected him absolutely because he's a liar and doesn't let principles stand in his way. None of this is really a surprise surely? The only real news is that it got out.

I care and we should all care because if we don't then we are all well and truly fucked.

Boris is just hoping that the longer he manages to cling on, putting out new sound bites to the media, the better his chances of people forgetting all the lies he and his cronies have told, and the worst part is, that he's probably right, people in this country have VERY short memories, that's why there is a percentage who now say they don't care. Had those people been aware that they were partying, while we were all staying away from loved ones, even while they were dying, doing all we could to follow the rules, to try and prevent even more deaths, I think it would have mattered to them a whole lot more! Think about the furore when Dominic Cummings was found to have been gallivanting around the country, while the vast majority of us were only going out to work or buy essential items .... Boris procrastinated so long then, that people were starting to lose interest even before Cummings did his big apology act in the garden. So it just proves that it's right what they say - today's news is tomorrow's chip wrappings!

I don't care, I'd be a hypocrite to, I broke the rules and so did all my friends. Also Boris has totally 'bought' me by abandoning the covid pass and lifting all restrictions. He'll get my vote. There's bigger things going on in the world right now to worry about workplace parties that happened ages ago. The level of backstabbing is astounding!

@AppleKatie

I care that our prime minister is a demonstrable liar.

But he was a demonstrable liar before he was elected. It's not exactly news is it?

No it is news now just as it was news then.

I cared then and I care now.

Contrary to boris’ belief im capable of remaining upset about him and his inadequacies for a really really long time.

Yes I’m bored of it too. But what’s the alternative? Say oh well it’s fine really?

It isn’t fine.

It is possible to care about more than one thing at a time. I care about the parties. I miscarried our third baby at home for 5 weeks because the hospitals wouldn't see me or offer me a scan because of Covid. When I eventually haemorrhaged in the middle of the night after rushing me to hospital, my partner sat outside in the car wondering what was going on and whether I was going to be ok and grieving for the baby.

That said I also care about every other horrific thing this government are responsible for. I care that we have people in charge of us like Rees Mogg who said it was common sense for people to leave Grenfell. Or Patel who wanted the RNLI to let human beings die in the channel.

They are an abomination in my view every single one of them with not an ounce of respect, integrity or honesty between them.

I care and everywhere I go-school gates, at work, out with friends, visiting family plus on Facebook and Twitter-everyone else still cares.

I resent being told by a bunch of corrupt, partying liars what I do or not care about.

I didn’t get to see one of my closest friends just before she died. Half of her friends and family had to stand outside at her funeral.

But Boris got to party on.

Yes, I do care.

@towers14

I don't care, I'd be a hypocrite to, I broke the rules and so did all my friends. Also Boris has totally 'bought' me by abandoning the covid pass and lifting all restrictions. He'll get my vote. There's bigger things going on in the world right now to worry about workplace parties that happened ages ago. The level of backstabbing is astounding!

Unless you made the rules, it isn't the same thing at all. Like you, I became non-compliant well before lockdown ended, but the likes of you and I weren't telling other people to abstain from what we were doing ourselves.

Plus, the willingness to inflict burdens on ordinary people whilst having no intention of shouldering any themselves is the thing that characterises Johnson's premiership. The principle is the exact same and comes from the same place, whether it's covid restrictions he ignored or NI rises that won't stop him being able to pay his bills. Whatever the issue, it's all fuck the little people. That means partygate can't be separated from 'bigger things'.

I see the Met are now helpfully emailing (at the same time) all the party attendees a questionnaire to answer. Could they make it any easier to agree a story/a party line? Why not phone them up separately you berks. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60327143

I don't care either - they were under massive pressure in the office

Everybody was under pressure. People with businesses watching them collapse, people home schooling children while trying to 'work from home', people whose income plummeted and found making ends meet impossible. Do we remember the nurses crying that after long shifts at hospitals they found no food left in supermarkets. What about pressure brought to so many households who were unable to be with their loved ones as they fought the disease or who couldn't be with their loved ones at the end of their life.
All of those things brought pressure to all of us in varying degrees, but the majority of us obeyed the rules, conscious we needed to fight the virus.
Our government thought it best to party and drink their way through the days.
But the worst of it isn't the parties anymore - it's the lying about it to the electorate and to Parliament.
You cannot trust liars.
A Prime Minister who lies is dangerous.
Those MP's supporting a prolific liar are never to be trusted with what is best for the country - they are just saving their jobs.

I care. I think they're disgusting hypocrites.

I broke the rules and so did all my friends

I didn't, nor did my friends or family.

But that isn't the point anymore.

The point is Boris Johnson has been lying to Parliament over and over again.
He and the Tories have shown it is ok to break the law. Tories are supporting him in this.
He has no moral authority to govern - nor have they.

I’m wondering if those who say they don’t care were the ones also having parties at the height of lockdown.

I was doing my work in a cafe the other week. The people on the next table changed three times while I was there, and every single group had a conversation about the parties. I got the strong impression that they all cared quite deeply!

Nothing about this PM could shock me anymore. I said to DH that it wouldn't surprise me if he's doing up his tie in the photo because he'd just been shagging the woman with the pixelated face on the cabinet office table during the quiz, with his 'IT technical advisors' present.

Johnson is a proven liar, but he was a proven racist and misogynist when he got elected. Staggering how some people think that is a good character reference for a Prime Minister.
We are the laughing stock of the world - you just have to look at the headlines in their newspapers.

I simply can’t get my head round anyone not caring. The most dishonest, corrupt, smug, entitled bunch of bastards to hold office in my life time pouring scorn on the electorate and people don’t care? Blows my mind.

It's the lying and hypocrisy that bothers me. It also gives the bloody conspiracy twats ammunition.

Unfortunately I know plenty that think he has done a reasonable job 😕..people who are traditional tory voters..and if its not him , will still vote tory...they are secure in their own bubble..
I bite my tongue a lot... vocalising would leave me out of a job..🤔😒

I do care about the parties but more than that I care about the lying and cover up and blustering bullshit. And that the PM thinks it’s better to claim that he’s stupid rather than admit the truth.

I'm not bothered.

@Blossomtoes

I simply can’t get my head round anyone not caring. The most dishonest, corrupt, smug, entitled bunch of bastards to hold office in my life time pouring scorn on the electorate and people don’t care? Blows my mind.

This. With bells on.

Watching PMQs today. Every question he is asked he just repeats the same old bollocks he says every week, much of which is not even true. He's a fucker despicable liar with no moral compass. How anyone lets him get away with it is beyond my comprehension. I can totally get that Tory / Labour views on many things are pole opposites and that his party should want to back him up, but it's not even about that any more. It's corruption, lying and moral ineptitude.