Will the Nation accept an apology? Will you?

polnan

my thoughts? well,I think Boris was the fall guy for the Conservative Party when he was "chosen"ie they got in, on the Brexit vote.

and since then, the pandemic? who on earth would want the job now?

certainly not any Labour politician with any sense, and clearly no one on Labour wants it, (not saying that there is anyone there with sense!) but clearly they don`t want the job, else surely they would be telling us what THEY would or WILL do.

We will have the Tories in power until the next election which is likely to be in 2 years time (no longer) so is anybody, apart from LP supporters, going to listen to anything that they say they may do or not do?

No - he should resign. I am concerned that he is being investigated by a woman with a track record of integrity and commitment to high values in public life BUT her boss is Boris Johnson. In what other organisation would you get someone to 'independly' investigate their boss and be expected to recommend sanctions if necessary? I wonder if Boris will see her report before we do - of course he will - and will he be able to demand changes......what do you think?

Kali2

I won't, for sure.

I won't accept the tidL wave of destruction on our green fields by this govt or the killing off of our pubs and businesses by the extreme lockdowns and I fear a Labour govt would be no better

No, I will certainly not accept his apology. It’s just a step too far. When I worked in an office, a meeting was a meeting. If it involved alcohol it was a party. But if he does resign, who will fill his lying shoes?

I dont think they will. However Kier Starmer isa hypocrite be abuse he did something very similarlar so he shouldn't be asking for his resignation action. If Boris party has had enough of him that's a different story. However I don't think any other person is likely to any better. Might as well hang on til 2024 anqd be done with it.

Calistemon And families who ventured outside their tower blocks to let their children go outside to kick a ball around actually live together.
The severe lockdown you describe started in March 2020 and these kinds of restrictions had been eased by May 2020 and I remember lots of people were out and about.

On 6th June there was a huge Black Lives Matter demonstration in London with many thousands of unmasked people. Do these all come from the same household? Should they all be arrested and charged?

To my mind, he was probably reading a script written by someone else and it totally lacked any sincerity, honesty and integrity - rather like the PM himself.

I am amazed that ANYONE could possibly believe this government has done a good job with anything frankly !

Few examples, well try the poor woman still in prison in Iran, illegal PPE contracts, the proroguing of parliament, behaviour and subsequent forgiveness of Cummings, over 150,000 dead from covid or covid related conditions. This is just the tip of the iceberg , add into that taking the credit for the entire vaccination process which was down to scientists, virologists and our amazing NHS, not to mention scores of volunteers ! Consistent rule breaking and unclear processes for the rest of us ! Too many “normal” members of the public couldn’t hold the hands of their dying loved ones, women giving birth alone, not being able to attend funerals, yet Downing Street partied on, not just once but several times !

Absolutely not especially having heard what he had to say in the tearoom after his not very sincere apology!

The way I see it, yes I’m sure lots of people didn’t follow the rules BUT they didn’t make the rules and there are not the government.

GrauntyHelen

Absolutely not especially having heard what he had to say in the tearoom after his not very sincere apology!

Please do enlighten me. What did he say?

Chestnut

Calistemon And families who ventured outside their tower blocks to let their children go outside to kick a ball around actually live together.
The severe lockdown you describe started in March 2020 and these kinds of restrictions had been eased by May 2020 and I remember lots of people were out and about.

On 6th June there was a huge Black Lives Matter demonstration in London with many thousands of unmasked people. Do these all come from the same household? Should they all be arrested and charged?

Everyone was up in arms about the demonstrators.
Why then, wouldn't the same be true of 'bring your own booze' dos put on by the rule makers?

No Farzanah you don’t have to be a regular to be noticed on the politics threads. Generally people don’t comment on other peoples posts unless they stand out for whatever reason - as you’ll have noticed often because they demonstrate prejudice or blinkered attitudes - or they say stupid things like ‘this is my opinion and I won’t respond when you tell me what you think’ because the whole point of a debating thread about politics is the debate! Keep on posting, it’s good to have new people on here.

No. I don't accept his apology, an apology for the public misunderstanding what Boris didn't do! He has to go but the Tories' are short of a substitute vote winner to keep their soft jobs next Election. I thank all the academics and experts (despised by Gove) for the vaccines and the NHS staff and volunteers for delivering them, not Boris.

I think we need to see a list of the 100 people who received the invitation to the party, who went and who didn't and where they actually usually worked and where they were all working that day

That would clarify a few of his answers

Let's be perfectly honest here. Apart from older people mainly how many have not broken a single covid lockdown law?
You had people being arrested for sitting on a seat eating a sandwich or meeting a friend for a walk carrying a coffee.
My friend always said there are 3 types of people now.
Those who follow all laws
Those who follow none
Those who pretend to follow all laws but really do as they like.
I think Boris is in the last group along with millions of others.
He's done a lot of good for our country. He worked throughout having covid himself. He's done his best to avoid further lockdowns.
He's not perfect but he's the best we have atm and that's OK for me.

NO ///and now he has pulled another excuse for not going on a visit ....is he afraid he will face questions ? he should GO and go NOW ...I do wonder if those tories in government that are supporting him are more concerned for themselves and their various perks to risk him going ...........after all, they managed to 'sack' Thatcher and others ...what hold has he got over them !

twinnytwin

Yes - the thought of Labour or any of the other political parties running the country is much worse to my mind. Undoubtably Boris etc have made some stupid decisions, breaking their Covid rules, but they've also made excellent decisions that is seeing the UK coming out of the pandemic in a stronger position than most other countries.

This is my view, and I know many agree with me. I shan't be answering any comments from the usual suspects on GN as those who are regular readers of the News & Politics threads (but dare not post) know their views only too well.

I agree. There are thousands of gransnetters....but you don’t ‘see’ them on here. Just not worth the aggravation.

Not a resigning matter for me. If everyone involved were working from home at the time and went into the office for a drinks party then there should be repercussions. As I see it, all the people involved were working together indoors at No 10 anyway and migrated to the garden outside for drinks, which is actually safer. No ‘outside’ people were invited. Whenever I have gone to an office party 99.9% of the conversations are about work so I have no doubt that this party was similar and there was much ‘shop-talk’. My concern are those workers who go to the media and shop their boss/colleagues. Must create much distrust in a working environment.

I don't accept his apology but neither do I see what good is being done with all the handwringing. This continual debating of BJ's wrongdoings seems like it will desensitise people in the long run. Where I was incandescent with rage, I am starting to feel a "give it a rest" attitude. I am sure there are other things the media can report on when it comes to BJ's misdemeanours.
I feel a sense of despair that I can't see anybody who I'd like to govern me at the moment. I can't believe anybody would think Jeremy Hunt is a good option.
The only thing to come out of this for me is that I now see why Boris accepted Dominic Cummings' trip to Durham Castle!
My worry is that this debacle is detracting from some of the more important news stories that are out there.

HolySox

Boris says he saw the garden event as a 'works event'. Seems he wanted to encourage his staff, and suggested it was withinh guidelines (outside, socially distanced) so I believe him. Apology accepted. (i.e. forgiven). Afterall, at the start of things he was meeting people to encourage them, following guidelines as they rolled out, but this led to him getting COVID. So he is/was fully aware of the impact of COVID and has championed the fight against it. Invested in vaccines such that the UK was the first to deliver it. Appalled at the comment above that Boris shouldn't take the credit - of course he should. Posters here expect him to take 'blame' but won't give him credit when due.
And I'll raise BREXIT again but onky in as much that the Tories needed Boris in charge to win the last general election ... but now it's done want him out of the way, hence we are being fed a string of sleaze stories for the gullible public to soak up. I have no doubt some of these have an element of truth but I don't see Boris as any different from other high ranking politicians. If anything he is more open about what he does unlike the highly polished acts of Cameron, May and Blair.
But Boris did get BREXIT done, got the UK to the front of the queue for vaccines and we are enjoying minimal restrictions on daily life now.

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Everyone makes mistakes...I tend to look at the whole picture. Lot of people casting stones...presume they are all perfect.

nj30

Not a resigning matter for me. If everyone involved were working from home at the time and went into the office for a drinks party then there should be repercussions. As I see it, all the people involved were working together indoors at No 10 anyway and migrated to the garden outside for drinks, which is actually safer. No ‘outside’ people were invited. Whenever I have gone to an office party 99.9% of the conversations are about work so I have no doubt that this party was similar and there was much ‘shop-talk’. My concern are those workers who go to the media and shop their boss/colleagues. Must create much distrust in a working environment.

What about Carrie?

Theoddbird

Everyone makes mistakes...I tend to look at the whole picture. Lot of people casting stones...presume they are all perfect.

No, we’re not. But then we’re not Prime Minister.

sazz1 Some of us have already agreed that Boris could have done well as PM but has let himself down with all these silly misdemeanours. He has a devil may care attitude which is not suitable for a PM and it's a shame because his good qualities are completely obliterated by his bad behaviour.