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

BashStreetKid
The rules didn't permit socialising at social events, irrespective of where those events took place. There was no workplace exception.

I do wish people would look up and read the rules that were in force at the time. They concerned meeting in a public place.

We were asked to stay home unless there was a reasonable excuse to go out such as having to go to work.
Now I accept that the government clearly had no idea what it was doing and didn't bother with any attempt at best practice to avoid people mixing unnecessarily at work. They don't seem to care if young staff develop into alcoholics either.
I get it.
They are a bunch of careless wankers.

BashStreetKid
All of that came from the top down. You can't excuse any of it on the basis that a member of the government might or might not have been there. Johnson is responsible.

I agree that it all came from the top down. But Johnson is not the Chief of Staff at No.10 - since Dominic Cummings was booted out it has, I think been, Dan Rosenfield, who must be laughing his socks off that so many people want to blame Johnson.

Think about it. It is ludicrous to imagine that the Prime Minister, who has to represent the country at meetings of the G7 and G20, run cabinet, answer questions in parliament and represent his constituents in Uxbridge can somehow also find the time to manage the 200 civil servants who work at No.10.

Blame the right person or you will simply get more people like Dominic Cummings and Dan Rosenfield making a mockery of the Covid regulations.

Ah Operation Big Dog arrives.

I'm fairly confident that if the Prime Minister had instructed his Chief of Staff to ensure that Downing Street staff (and assorted hangers on) absolutely could not have parties they would have abided by that.

Why operation ' big dog ' though ?
It sounded almost comedic last night and the sky presenter even had a bit of a smirk on his face when he said it :(
Typical of our leader to bring something so serious down to funny name levels when it really isn't funny at all.

All the dead cats they keep trying to fling on the table as a distraction aren’t working so they thought a big, lollopy dog running through the media stealing slippers might work?

He's ballooned to 17 stone now a BMI of 35.2 remember after his brush with death he's pledged to get fitter and healthier - another broken promise.

They will need to buy him one of those huge double American fridges soon then if he puts on any more weight.

You can imagine him in No 10 - babies crying, Carrie with a cob on assaulted by bad news and urgent matters on all fronts stuffing his cakehole with comfort food like some Christmas never-ending feast swilled down with fine wines rueing the day he ever wanted to be King of the World. Meanwhile, a few miles away evil Dom dusts down the next grenade to lob at the shopping trolley. Karma is a bitch - GET BORIS DONE

@Florianus

BashStreetKid The rules didn't permit socialising at social events, irrespective of where those events took place. There was no workplace exception.

I do wish people would look up and read the rules that were in force at the time. They concerned meeting in a public place.

They covered meetings on private premises also, hence the fact we weren't all throwing parties.

@Florianus

BashStreetKid All of that came from the top down. You can't excuse any of it on the basis that a member of the government might or might not have been there. Johnson is responsible.

I agree that it all came from the top down. But Johnson is not the Chief of Staff at No.10 - since Dominic Cummings was booted out it has, I think been, Dan Rosenfield, who must be laughing his socks off that so many people want to blame Johnson.

Think about it. It is ludicrous to imagine that the Prime Minister, who has to represent the country at meetings of the G7 and G20, run cabinet, answer questions in parliament and represent his constituents in Uxbridge can somehow also find the time to manage the 200 civil servants who work at No.10.

Blame the right person or you will simply get more people like Dominic Cummings and Dan Rosenfield making a mockery of the Covid regulations.

Think about it, @Florianus. We know he knew that parties were taking place, because he was present at some. He was known to be taking part in them before the pandemic, so he knew they were a thing. Do you seriously imagine that if, at any time, he had told the Chief of Staff that they had to stop, they would have continued? Do you think that, just maybe, he should have given that instruction?

I just saw a clip of David Mellor confutmimg that the current boozy set up in Downing Street was NOT the norm in the Thatcher or Major eras.
Not surprisingly.

..confirming..

It’s rot coming from the top down. Bunch of second-rate functioning alcoholics by the sound of it.

Who paid for the suitcase of booze from the Co-Op?

Was it paid for from private funds or was it stuck on some kind of government entertaining account?

I'd love to know.

The government is technically "her Majesty's government". So while Philip's death is not massively different to all the other deaths the party goers were technically partying while their leader was grieving. So definitely bad taste as well as rule breaking.

Obviously the knives are out for Boris and there will be a leadership election before too long. Hence the careful reminders here that Sunik has a house elsewhere, although he clearly does spend time in the number 10 flat -and paid for the redecoration himself. www.express.co.uk/life-style/property/1512053/where-does-Rishi-Sunak-live-London-Yorkshire-property-portfolio-evg

Hope he has better taste than Boris.

BashStreetKid
Do you seriously imagine that if, at any time, he had told the Chief of Staff that they had to stop, they would have continued? Do you think that, just maybe, he should have given that instruction?

He would have been ignored. The Civil Service is run by the Chief of Staff, not the Prime Minister. Just look how Johnson grovelled when Cummings was Chief of Staff and was discovered to have driven to Barnard Castle on the pretext of testing his eyesight.

"The Civil Service at No.10" I should have said. Johnson know that he can get nowhere without their support, thus when Cummings drove up to Durham against Covid regulations, Johnson praised him for acting "responsibly, legally and with integrity".

Gosh, can't control his own offices. He really is a lame duck PM (as per The Times today).

twitter.com/freedland/status/1482650776870821890?s=21

Reynolds = "My loyal Labrador".

Cummings was a political appointment. He was also gone by the time of Prince Philip’s funeral. Boris has clearly set the mood here for disobeying the rules.

@Notonthestairs

Gosh, can't control his own offices. He really is a lame duck PM (as per The Times today).

The people the PM has to control are his MPs and Cabinet. The staff at No.10 are controlled by the Chief of Staff. The clue is in the job title.

@RoseSays

Weren't students being fined £10k for small house parties and kicked out of Uni at this point? I assume they got criminal records as well?

I have never agreed with fining young people those sort of sums of money - but surely now they should get a pardon, fine return and criminal record removed? They could argue it was a 'study/work' party too?

Yes, my sons uni friend had a party and was sent back to Spain.

@TorringtonDean

Cummings was a political appointment. He was also gone by the time of Prince Philip’s funeral. Boris has clearly set the mood here for disobeying the rules.

Cummings was replaced by Dan Rosenfield as Chief of Staff at No.10. He will be the sacraficial goat when Sue Gray's report is published.