Downing St parties night before Prince Philip's Funeral

[buddhasbelly]

The telegraph are reporting more parties... The night before Prince Philip's funeral.

• party spilled out into garden

-someone broke Wilf's swing in tthe garden -someone sent with a suitcase to buy booze from the co-op

When the telegraph of all papers are reporting it, he's surely done for now?

Apologies if another thread on this, couldn't see one

Would that include the tens of thousands pictured rammed onto beaches in Bournemouth and other resorts during that same May sunshine?

Tens of thousands? Hardly.

And, @Florianus, you are bringing this up in response to a reference to the fact that the majority of the population complied with the rules. Hint: the population of England alone is an awful lot more than "tens of thousands".

www.newstatesman.com/politics/conservatives/2022/01/the-conservatives-cant-afford-to-look-this-ridiculous
But the bigger problem for Boris Johnson and the Conservatives is this: the story is simply very funny. A government can weather all sorts of things, but perhaps the most dangerous in lots of ways is for it to appear ridiculous. One MP despaired to me that the party looked “like a clown show”, while another said that the issue was “bigger than the parties. A critical mass of people [in the parliamentary party] have decided they don’t think this guy can run the fucking government.” Another despaired that the government had two problems: “we look arrogant because we had these parties. We look shit because we couldn’t even cover them up properly.”

It may well mark the point at which voters are no longer laughing with Boris Johnson, but at Boris Johnson. The Conservatives will wonder if the bigger problem is the entire party struggling to walk off the impression that it is arrogant and incompetent.

It was an event organised by somebody else, in their workplace, in order to thank their staff. Not even Johnson is bloody rude enough to do that.

And yet he admits he should and could have stopped the party, if only he'd thought of it at the time. How do you account for that?

Cumming's rare free to read substack article that started the 20th hare running. He has one purpose in life at the moment to get rid of the 'trolley' - he has redefined bitterness. He will triumph in this quest as most tories are starting to realise.

dominiccummings.substack.com/p/parties-photos-trolleys-variants

Isn't there some sort of accepted basic principle in politics that if you haven't managed to persuade the public to move on from a scandal within five days then it's gone too deep and you might as well resign quickly to save yourself and your party a world of grief?

Yes that's was Alastair Campbell's mantra I think it was 9 days. Cumming's and allies have enough ammo for a protracted war with most the ammo minted by Johnson's overarching stupidity, arrogance. elite entitlement and laziness.

@BashStreetKid

Would that include the tens of thousands pictured rammed onto beaches in Bournemouth and other resorts during that same May sunshine?

Tens of thousands? Hardly.

And, @Florianus, you are bringing this up in response to a reference to the fact that the majority of the population complied with the rules. Hint: the population of England alone is an awful lot more than "tens of thousands".

However many it was, there were many more people on the beaches of Bournemouth than 30 civil servants sitting in a garden.

And yes, the majority of people did comply with the rules, just as the majority of civil servants complies with the rules.

@BashStreetKid

It was an event organised by somebody else, in their workplace, in order to thank their staff. Not even Johnson is bloody rude enough to do that.

And yet he admits he should and could have stopped the party, if only he'd thought of it at the time. How do you account for that?

Because it is very easy to be wise after the event.

If the Chief of Staff would really have ignored an instruction from the Prime Minister not to do something that would break the laws that his government had put in place, that simply illustrates what an incredibly weak PM Johnson is.*

I'm not sure you really understand how the upper echelons of the civil service work. Had the PM told him that the party must not go ahead, the Chief of Staff would not have refused but would simply have told him that it was too late to stop.

Anyway, we will all see the details when Sue Gray's report appears - although I predict that many people here will be very disappointed.

Cummings and his successor were political appointments. They are not civil servants, and do not command civil servants.

Thé D St Chief of Staff does not run the CS. That job is done by the Head of the Civil Service.

There are two tribes at Number Ten. Civil Servants and political appointees or SPADs.

There is no way of knowing from that picture how many present were CS, how many were SPADS.

At the end of the day, advisers can only advise. Ministers decide.

@Words

Cummings and his successor were political appointments. They are not civil servants, and do not command civil servants.

Thé D St Chief of Staff does not run the CS. That job is done by the Head of the Civil Service.

There are two tribes at Number Ten. Civil Servants and political appointees or SPADs.

There is no way of knowing from that picture how many present were CS, how many were SPADS.

At the end of the day, advisers can only advise. Ministers decide.

As the Civil Service reference page states, Special Advisers are "a special type of civil servant".

Nobody has suggested that the Chief of Staff runs the entire civil service - merely that he or she runs the Civil Service staff at No.10

I absolutely expect Prime Ministers to be wise during the event (preferably before). Even toddlers recognise a party when they go to one.

Fair play to you for trying to spin it out.

Special in the sense that they are not politically impartial, as civil servants have a duty to be.
A sort of non civil servant civil servant?

@Words

Special in the sense that they are not politically impartial, as civil servants have a duty to be. A sort of non civil servant civil servant?

That is what the civil service reference page states, and that is confirmed by The Institute for Government, who confirm that Special Advisers are appointed as temporary civil servants.

I think you missed my point, but I am not arguing with you any further.

Grant Feller
@grantfeller
Overly forgiving, careless with money, unwilling to address flaws, abandoning him during illness, forcing him to change nappies and unsophisticated. It’s his wife who’s to blame for Boris Johnson’s woes says Tom Bower whose own wife is a close friend of and was ennobled by Boris

twitter.com/grantfeller/status/1482714077222866948

There is some crazy shit going on at the heart of government that really needs to stop and will only recede when Johnson gets the royal boot up his backside or falls on his sword.

@Words

I think you missed my point, but I am not arguing with you any further.

I've no idea what point your were trying to make but the fact is, as stated on numerous websites including those of the Civil Service and the Institute of Government, is that Special Advisors are appointed as temporary civil servants but they are exempt from mainstream civil servants’ obligation of political impartiality,

Das pfennig hat gefallen.

Anyway, how interesting a slew of sudden and ill thought out announcements fills the news agenda.

Whenever I hear the name Dominic Cummings , I think of the old saying ;
' revenge is a dish best served cold '
His is in the freezer.

The Queen sat alone masked at her husband's funeral whilst the amoral tub of Eton educated lard felt he and his ilk were above us plebs. May they rot in hell where they belong. An anti-corruption candidate should stand in Southend, life goes on.

Another dump onto Johnson's lying head.

Updated blog: PM was told about the invite, he knew it was a drinks party, he lied to Parliament dominiccummings.substack.com/p/parties-photos-trolleys-variants

I do wonder what the next shock will be.

Cumming's /Lee Cain and a cabal of disaffected coup makers will not settle until Johnson has been defenestrated. They will succeed. They are all bastards who have inflicted great injury upon our country. That Johnson is a gonna is a given the only question will it be this week or next?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10411585/Dominic-Cummings-ready-oath-accuse-Boris-Johnson-lying-Downing-Street-parties.html