Why on earth did Boris not hold his meeting virtually?

[Lumene]

Totally unnecessary for him and the MPs to have met face to face surely?

The advice is to work from home where possible, why on earth did they not follow it?!?

@PleasantVille are you telling me you wouldn't say anything to your DP if he went on live TV looking like he had brushed his hair with a toffee apple? Equally id expect my DH to tell me if I looked a state going on live TV too.
I mean this man is meant to be running the country and he can't even run a comb through his hair

I think that this was used as a very convenient excuse to get him out of the way until a new puppetmaster is appointed, who can produce him in approximately compos mentis form with pre-scripted speeches on a few critical occasions and otherwise hide him away.

I don't think Boris is very well - either Covid after-effects, or an ongoing health issue which makes him 'unfit to be seen' a lot of the time. This is another reason to hide him for a bit.

Perhaps MPs, especially front benchers, have already secretly had a vaccine?
Too conspiracy theory? Ok but one things for certain. They're guaranteed a hospital bed, however busy the NHS might be, and the very best drugs (like the very expensive in short supply treatment given to Trump).

He is an idiot who doesn’t think the rules apply to him.
If they’d have met in person but socially distanced at >2m with masks then no one would have had to isolate
I also think the timing is convenient for him to have 2 weeks at home with his feet up, avoid 2 sets of roastings at PMQs and try to plan his “reinvention” now Cummings is (allegedly) gone

@Sunbird24 this is back from April the House of Commons were rolling out teams for remote conferencing: www.bgipu.org/activity-reports/virtual-meetings-allow-mps-to-scrutinise/

Labour are using teams for secure online meetings:
labour.org.uk/activist-hub/local-party-resources/online-meeting-guidance/

Do you think banks/ Universities/ MI5 / MI6 /councils where staff are wfh don't have facilities for secure online meetings?

Johnson has a virtual meeting arranged with Norther Research Group of MPs on Monday:
'The meeting between Mr Johnson and MPs representing so-called “blue wall” seats across the North, many of them taken from Labour at last year’s election, will take place via online video conference.'
Amazingly they don't need to hold that in person at No. 10.

Or why didn't they socially distance?! When we hold meetings at work we are a minimum of 2 m apart. Surely Downing Street has a room big enough for that?!

@OpheliasCrayon

Oh also because he knew he'd fucked up by being an enormous twunt and there's a massive no.10 reshuffle / apology situation going on... cummings left and all that. So I feel like he sought out anyone who may have covid to give himself a reason to isolate and not deal with his shit show.

Sums it up nicely! another "hiding in the fridge" situation

Lee Anderson has so much 'common sense' that he made a 200 mile journey to London on public transport and had a non socially distanced photo op with Johnson despite his wife being vulnerable due to Cystic Fybrosis. I wish them both no ill will but it give you an idea of what absolutel idiocy we're dealing with in this government.

@EnglishGirlApproximately

Lee Anderson has so much 'common sense' that he made a 200 mile journey to London on public transport and had a non socially distanced photo op with Johnson despite his wife being vulnerable due to Cystic Fybrosis. I wish them both no ill will but it give you an idea of what absolutel idiocy we're dealing with in this government.

It's all of them though isn't it. Not just the Tories. There was that SNP MP a while back. They're all at it.

@SheepandCow completely agree the SNP MP also acted idiotically. Anderson is a particularly abhorrent individual though who has put his wife at risk for political gain. Anyone breaking the rules is in the wrong, but it adds an extra layer of insult to the general population when it's the rule makers that are breaking them.

Pressed too soon. The lovely Anderson has been doing the above survey this week. No leading questions designed to get the results he wants at all....

[quote EnglishGirlApproximately]@SheepandCow completely agree the SNP MP also acted idiotically. Anderson is a particularly abhorrent individual though who has put his wife at risk for political gain. Anyone breaking the rules is in the wrong, but it adds an extra layer of insult to the general population when it's the rule makers that are breaking them.[/quote]
I see what you mean @EnglishGirlApproximately
I hope his wife's ok.

I'm just sick of hearing about various MPs or civil servants or similar showing contempt for the rules (and by extension the health of the general public).

What got me was that whilst going on about the need to isolate he failed to mention the need to protect others. He is showing more and more that he is the wrong person to be the PM.

@EnglishGirlApproximately surely everyone is taught to include questions starting with 'do you agree with me' when designing surveys?!

@SheepandCow there are many people who act idiotically across Government. The former SNP MP being one of the worst and if I was in her constituency I would be waiting to vote her out.

The Government should be setting an example of good practice to the public. I would say making non-essential trips during lockdown to attend a group meeting while not wearing masks (when a conference call could have happened instead) resulting in 11MPs now having to self-isolate does not show 'common sense'.

@GrumblyMumblyisnotJumbly
I completely agree. They should be leading by example.

I reckon last nights Dispatches, Lockdown Chaos had factor in this decision.

It's all of them though isn't it. Not just the Tories. There was that SNP MP a while back. They're all at it.

No, I don't think this is right.

The other parties have seen isolated incidents of idiocy/rulebreaking from individuals. The Tories seem to have an issue right through their party and government.

Johnson should have never held an event during lockdown that could result in test and trace needing him to isolate.

If he had stayed 2m away in mask, this wouldn't be happening.

This is how seriously the Tory government are taking Covid - not very. Still.

The thing people don’t seem to be picking up on is he should still be doing everything from home, so this grand unveiling of the new Boris with a new team that was suppose to happen this week, it could still happen easily via video etc. He doesn’t have to be anywhere special for this gran unveiling. But it isn’t happening like that potentially because he’s not ready, and this isolation is a very convenient time for him to work out his plan

Looks like they have cracked down on face to face events now after the bad publicity

@Lumene

Looks like they have cracked down on face to face events now after the bad publicity

Good, but as people who are meant to be leading by example it’s shameful that it wasn’t cracked down on before.

For the same reason many of the Brexit talks are held face to face. You of course can do many meetings virtually, but there comes a point when you have to meet in order to get things done. Most people I know absolutely detest on-line wfh, and can't wait to get back in the office.

It's all of them though isn't it. Not just the Tories. There was that SNP MP a while back. They're all at it

....but they are not "all at it" one idiot SNP MP doesn't imply that.

Much like Trumps Republicans, Johnson & Tories seem to think they are immune from Covid, as so far, its the Cons that seem to have had the majority of the outbreaks.

Zoom gives end to end encryption and the network within Downing street should have state of the art security.

Biscuits. You don't get given a plate of biscuits for a virtual meeting.

@Baaaahhhhh Most people I know absolutely detest on-line wfh, and can't wait to get back in the office.

Well absolutely, we are all fed up and would like to work and lead the rest of our lives in our preferred ways but we are all expected to make compromises to protect public health, reduce community transmission so that schools can keep 'open' and with the aim that more jobs can be retained / companies can recover. It is after all the Government that are giving us the instruction 'Work from home if you can' in a second national lockdown.

It seems Boris is a liability on zoom though (incendiary comments about devolution already) so I'm sure he'll quickly be back to face to face, behind closed doors, with an aide present to gag him when necessary.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

Biscuits. You don't get given a plate of biscuits for a virtual meeting.

But you do get the whole packet to yourself.