To hope Johnson doesn't resign?

[LonelyPlanetGirI]

Because if he clings on until the next GE, he'll be completely unelectable and we'll be rid of the Tories.

I'm hoping he digs his heels in just like he always has, even though by rights he should be fucking off with his tail between his legs.

Sunak ffs. What a pile of garbage, so much so I've just retweeted an owen jones post. I feel dirty

Do you prefer your politicians to stick to day time drinking? I mean Johnson was lounging on the patio with Carrie and baby in a work meeting in daylight, or necking a swift can of lager in a birthday gathering before heading to a big meeting?

The law disagrees with you Janiie

The mental gymnastics must be exhausting for those who just hate people because they have done something or belong to a political party they don't like.

Why? It's dead easy to hate the Tories. They're venal, entitled, corrupt, inhumane liars. They appeal to the worst kind of bigotry, narrow-mindedness and selfishness in the electorate to stir up the kind of conflict and divisiveness they need to stay in power. They exacerbate economic inequality and destroy the life chances (and often the lives) of the poor in order to protect the privilege of the rich. They caused thousands upon thousands of unnecessary deaths by their inadequate response to the pandemic, on top of the thousands already caused by a decade of austerity. They treat democracy with contempt and dismantle the structures in place to hold them to account in the name of "strong government".

And now, they're not even competent (competence traditionally being one of their main supposed selling points).

There's no mental gymnastics required. That would suggest the existence of some positives that have to be ignored to focus on all this.

The Tories are great at rebranding though, and the electorate have shockingly short memories, and are highly suggestible to whatever the next election's scare tactic will be.

A lot will depend on when the election happens - this Winter is going to be very tough so they'll either need to go early or wait it out and hope they can change things around (which they won't without some tough conversations about trade).

I was just reading on another thread that energy prices are oredicted to go up by 64% in October. That is not going to go down well with the electorate, especially as the government won't do anything about it while it is mired in this crisis.

64%? 😱

Very illuminating tweet here. Ready4Rishi (urgh)has been a while in the planning...

twitter.com/iamrofe/status/1545431714826272769?s=20&t=7JyuJ7RzS3OGRcqMSM5U8w

Yeah but Labour don't know what a woman is, and will be in the pocket of the SNP yada yada.

I suppose if we used Durham's PC's interpretation of covid people at work could've all had beers together at 10pm. Who knew it was allowed!

Everyone knew. It’s what they’ve been saying for months. The law at the time isn’t really a point for debate, it’s just a fact.

aw @ClaudineClare, I came on this thread to distract myself from that thread

all the more reason for labour to push for BJ out of no. 10 and an election sooner rather than later I suspect.

Exactly @ClaudineClare

That man doesn't give a shit about the electorate.

In April 2021, in those circumstances? Anyone who'd read and understood the relevant legislation in force at that time.

Roussette
This is a v good article that explains it well and in detail.

It's not a very good article at all -

From the text;
But speaking at the time the footage was published, Starmer defended his actions on LBC. He said no restaurants or pubs were open and the hotel in which he and colleagues were staying did not serve food, so “if you didn’t get a takeaway then our team wasn’t eating that evening”.

We already know that restaurants and pubs with outside seating were open in Durham that evening (the BBC reported that) - and Keir Starmer ate at a restaurant with outside seating the previous evening in Hull. Starmer also visited several pubs in the preceding two weeks.

The article reports several questions/answers from the LBC interview in January but fails to mention that Starmer was asked in that interview how many people were at the Durham meeting "in total" - his answer implied "about six". He then revised this number upwards to "fifteen or so" (in May) - but this was only after Durham Police had commenced their latest investigation. Interview clips here:

order-order.com/2022/05/16/starmer-revises-count-up-from-6-to-15-attendees-at-beergate/

We found out today that there were seventeen people at the gathering - which is quite a few more than six. So, regardless of whether Keir Starmer broke the law or not he clearly wasn't being truthful before the police investigation.

Starmer -
"Honesty and integrity matter. You will always get that from me."

Is that so?

With hindsight, I am glad that Starmer wasn't fined - rather him in the leadership role than someone like Yvette Cooper.

When we discover which rich friend is lending Boris their property for his wedding party, it's got to be worth some journo's while looking very hard for the mahoosive favour Boris has done the donor using taxpayers' money.

With hindsight, I am glad that Starmer wasn't fined - rather him in the leadership role than someone like Yvette Cooper

Thanks @Clavinova. Good to hear from the horse’s mouth who the Tories really fear as leader of the opposition.

@JaniieJones When you have picked yourself up off the floor with the hilarity of it, can you explain to me why a 56 year old man thought it was ok to celebrate his birthday when millions of children could not meet in the same way at that time?

The rule didn't say you must not organise or ask for a gathering, but that you must not take part in one. Hence the fact that both hosts and guests could be fined.

Johnson walked into a gathering that was not necessary for work. What any responsible person would have done, especially if they had instigated the rules, was to say something like "Really kind of you, thanks, but we all know this is unlawful and can't happen, so sorry, please clear this away and get back to work". And then maybe send round a memo reminding everyone that following the rules was not negotiable. But of course Johnson didn't do that.

The only thing that is puzzling is how the hell he got away with it for all the other social gatherings he attended, and why he police and Gray never bothered to investigate the Abba party.

"Because if he clings on until the next GE, he'll be completely unelectable and we'll be rid of the Tories."

Don't be so sure....
Everyone thought that about the Brexit vote and they are still there, if anything, even more hardened

I would only imagine that at this level of politics, our pm has bigger things to occupy their time.

Whoever manages his time/diary and others who manage him I would expect to research and know the rules.

That might work, @Summerwhereareyou, if he hadn't kept turning up on TV telling us what the rules were, or listening to other people telling us what the rules were. Was he not even listening to himself?

And then there's the fact that they simply must have discussed these things in cabinet; and that he was writing to little girls commending them for giving up their birthday parties because it was against the rules.

And even if he couldn't remember the rules he was instrumental in approving and telling us about, maybe he could have applied his mind to the reasoning behind the rules, i.e. to stop the spread of infection. He could have reflected on the fact that they had rather a lot of infections going around no. 10. If it was after he had covid, he could have reflected on that and how he got infected.

Or, if absolutely none of that crossed his mind, he could have thought about the basic rule every politician should apply to every action - i.e. if this was plastered across the front pages of the papers, how comfortable would I feel about it?

Johnson's got a degree, ffs, he shouldn't have to have a nanny to tell him what his own rules are.

Notonthestairs
Do you prefer your politicians to stick to day time drinking? I mean Johnson was lounging on the patio with Carrie and baby in a work meeting in daylight

It was after 6pm according to the Sue Gray report and Carrie Symonds was there "briefly".

Is this daytime drinking? Starmer at one of the "closed" pubs the week before Durham;

23 Apr 2021
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/mirror-meets-keir-starmer-pub-23971784

It was a given well before that. Durham police got it right the first time they decided not to prosecute, they really had no business bowing down to pressure from the Mail and the Tories.

It was always obvious that no prosecution should succeed. Gatherings necessary for work and for the purposes of election campaigning were permitted, there was absolutely no evidence ever produced that indicated anything to the contrary - and it would be near-impossible anyway for the police to say they knew better than the political parties concerned about what was or was not necessary for the campaign.

I suspect even the Mail knew this, they just chose to make a big fuss about this because they were panicking about the elections. And, as it turns out, even that tactic didn't help their hero. What a shame.

Am I the only one that doesn't give a fuck if he ate a bit of cake and drank. So did Starmer and I don't give a fuck about that either.

We are beyond that time, Russia has invaded Ukraine and there's a global economic crisis due to the pandemic and the war.

And yet parliament tried to dissolve itself for their own gain, they've ousted a PM who was front and central in the European war.

I'm disgusted with it all. All the hair splitting. We are living today.

Different times, different rules, different purposes for the gatherings.

As, of course, you know perfectly well.

Sorry this has ruined your day.

I've got ever such a good tip for you.

When you need legal advice, don't go to Durham students for it.