22nd March, the Commons Privileges Comittee investigation into Partygate

[DuncinToffee]

Live on BBC Parliament 2-6pm

Some background information

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62009458

https://news.sky.com/story/partygate-inquiry-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-investigation-into-boris-johnson-12805474

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/privileges-committee-investigation-boris-johnson

@Janiie my work (NHS, non clinical) had two leaving dos in lockdown. Both were held on Teams. In the case of one (very senior and well liked) there was a collection done via PayPal and a gift was bought online and shipped.

So why couldn't your darling Boris have done that?

We knew the rules. And we weren't even running the country!

@Notonthestairs - my experience was that having achieved power he did not know what do with it. He was a king, not a PM. PMs need guile and drive to achieve their aims. Johnson did not have these things because he was an aim in itself.

Once King, he unraveled likes cheap jumper. Erudition cannot conceal a void. He is an empty character

It doesn't quite work like that though does it Janiie? Seeing as they were the most fined premises in the whole of the UK.

So just jog on with the 'they were working' nonsense. Essential work yes. Leaving dos to 'steady the ship' - not essential and it is an absolute insult to those working their arses of to say that.

'And you know this because?'

Well because I talk to people, I have family and friends, lots in the nhs. Of course folk wfh did Teams leaving dos but I guarantee if people were at work then a cake and sandwiches would have been present in many staff rooms. No congas or raves obviously, but BJ wasn't actually clubbing you know. Nhs staff reading this will know this but won't dare stick their heads over the parapet. Cakes and sarnies were present in nhs staff rooms.

He should have obviously been stricter and in hindsight he obviously regrets it but I absolutely agree workplaces were different to attending funerals and visiting family.

I talk to people

We all talk to people. I talk to people. You hear different than others. Funny that.

Cakes and sarnies were present in nhs staff rooms

So you know this of every single staff room in the NHS? Rightio!

He should have obviously been stricter and in hindsight he obviously regrets it but I absolutely agree workplaces were different to attending funerals and visiting family

Answer me this, Janiie.

Do you agree with him that leaving dos, that weren't socially distanced, were completely essential for morale to steady the ship?

Because that is complete and utter bollocks. And you know it. He never let the country know they could party when someone left. And he couldn't answer Sir Bernard coherently when asked what he would say if someone asked if they could have a leaving do

No, he does NOT regret it. Any of it. Did you listen to the Hearing? He would not correct the record. He stood by it all. Right up till the end when asked by Harriet Harman
So NO.

@Janiie were there suitcases of wine in the staffrooms of your oh so many NHS friends, who covered every staffroom in the NHS, as well?

Strangely enough I also know lots of people (clinical) who work in the NHS and nope, no cakes and sarnies in their staffrooms.

'So just jog on with the 'they were working' nonsense'

jog on and nonsense

I'll try these terms you one day Rousette and see how much you like it. I predict not a lot

'so you know this of every single staff room in the NHS? Rightio!'

Hmm not sure I said every single staff room I did however say 'many'.

I will still vote for him because he got Brexit done, showed it to those foreigners, knows what a woman is and most importantly of all is not But Jeremy Corbyn.

And how many is many?

You have said far worse to me than 'jog on' !!

A leaving do with booze and food is not working. And is not essential.

That's it really.

@Janiie I think you may have missed my post asking you why you think it acceptable for a 56 year old to have a birthday party whilst denying that opportunity to millions of children?

All this talk of staff rooms is nonsense. Many ITU staff didn’t leave the unit for their entire shift because of the PPE shortage, once they’d entered a “dirty” area they couldn’t return without a complete change of PPE. I’d have thought these oh so knowledgeable pals would have known that but perhaps not since they were still using staff rooms.

Actually Jannie ay be partially correct. I know of bank staff leaving who took.in cakes for colleagues and had them in the staff room. But the were eaten in their individual shortened lunch breaks. The unch breaks had to be short so they could be taken by 1 person at a time all alone. In bigger branches that meant they could only be in the staff room for 15 minutes. The only people who could be together were the 2 people on the tills but they couldn't go together and leave the counters unmanned. Some people went into a room to cover telephone banking or bereavement work etc and stayed there sll day except for the loo. They may have had a cake left outside to collect.
So yeah, just like Downing Street.

So @Janiie may I then assume that you are also perfectly OK with Sir Keir and his beer, and that you were outraged when the conservatives really pushed that investigation? I mean, if there was a (very very unwritten) exemption for work dos then it has to apply to everyone, doesn't it?

Oh Christ, not Keir’s beer again.

I am increasingly under the impression that some posters have no idea what working in ITU is like. Whilst I haven't worked in ITU I have spent weeks there as a parent. It is called Intensive for a reason. The care given to patients is intensive, a nurse looking after a single patient may well have little time to sit around and rest and if they do have a break then another nurse needs to cover them. The condition of a patient on a variety of different medications, ventilated, and so on, could have their condition change rapidly, their breathing can change, an IV line can get blocked and need sorting. When one additionally factors in the time taken to ensure infection control measures are adherred to, going for a break is not simple.

@Blossomtoes sorry for bringing it up, just want to see if the usual double standard emerges.

No, it’s appreciated. Thank you.

All hearsay then

And nothing wrong with 'Cakes and sarnies were present in nhs staff rooms' as long as social distancing was observed.

But that doesn't suit your narrative of everyone did it

Downing Street was full of parties, sorry, gatherings with alcohol, while we couldn't go to funerals. That is unforgivable.

It will, it already has elsewhere.

Alcohol is a sanitiser so if you have enough of it the virus will die (virus are not alive anyway) and failing that enough alcohol will help you forget about the awful mess you have made of the country, so it was essential for work in Johnson's government.

@OhYouBadBadKitten - yes and that is the kind of truth that sticks. Johnson will probably be remembered for that, the liberal who shut down a country and ignored his own rules.

Not very Churchillian. And not the kind of legacy that will ever be given a favourable mention in the history books as he so evidently wanted.

It is like Blair with the Iraq War; a mark upon him forever - the rule maker who could live by his own rules and punished a people as he partied.

I wonder if posters who think loads of people were doing the same thing as Boris also think those people assured Parliament that they were acting lawfully too?

Why are you comparing work places to funerals? 2 very different things.

Let me explain. There was a pandemic so to reduce risk of spread the mixing of households sadly had to be restricted. Workplaces were different as people were there if unable to wfh so the risk was already present.

I'm still waiting to hear about BJ attending a funeral, which would be an actually comparable situation but so far zilch.