Partygate

Like your thinking Maddyone.
Jesus talked about people following the letter of the law and not the heart of the law.

A technical breach of the law on the face of it. But this portrayal of "parties" was no such thing. The Prime Minister was unknowingly called into a surprise gathering by his daily colleagues for his birthday. He was on his way to a formal meeting but stayed to acknowledge the 'party' for ten minutes before proceeding to his meeting. The idea that he had broken the law and flouted rules in this situation was nowhere near his mind at the time.
I am in despair at the desperate and pathetic witch-hunting going on to bring down the highly competent government of our country. It is infantile stupidity. It is time for people to take more notice of the real threats to our country, the world order and our democratic way of life, being perpetrated by Russia and China, and to which the Prime Minister must spend 100% of his time and energy addressing. Ten minute so-called 'parties' must be got into proportion.
Imposed rules were being inevitably broken in every office block in the country and also in many private homes. What has happened to people's common sense? Maybe people would prefer the likes of Presidents Putin and Zi to be our leaders!

HE BROKE THE LAW.

Why are we even having this discussion? ?

If found guilty of attending other parties he allegedly didn't know were happening and he didn't know he was at, he could be fined up to £10,000.

I wonder what donor will get tapped up, if he has to pay this sort of amount in fines:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10714277/Furious-Rishi-Sunak-blames-Boris-Carrie-Partygate-fine.html

Of course they were parties. We used to have cake in our workplace too, but I don't recall any suitcases of booze or drunken people breaking swings. Was that sort of thing normal in your workplace maddyone?
The police would not issue FPNs if the law had not been broken.
Where is respect for the law, for responsible behaviour in the workplace, for the responsibilities of senior management?
If this was a Labour government people would be up in arms.
I despair.

The war in Ukraine has saved Slippery Boris. I dare say if we had been invaded he would have slithered off to the Bahamas taking his many offspring with him. President Zelensky might have been a comedian in a former life but Boris is a joke and the joke’s on us.

The idea that he had broken the law and flouted rules in this situation was nowhere near his mind at the time.

So, we have someone in charge who doesn't think that having 30 people in one room, when the law says you are only allowed 2, is breaking the law. We're OK with having that person as PM? Infantile stupidity, indeed.

Maybe people would prefer the likes of Presidents Putin and Zi to be our leaders!

That's really offensive, you know?

HolySox

Like your thinking Maddyone.
Jesus talked about people following the letter of the law and not the heart of the law.

The "heart of the law" was to suppress transmission by minimising contacts to the absolute minimum. It doesn't take more than a few brain cells to work out that the contacts in question were not necessary and, therefore, broke the law.

Paperstream

A technical breach of the law on the face of it. But this portrayal of "parties" was no such thing. The Prime Minister was unknowingly called into a surprise gathering by his daily colleagues for his birthday. He was on his way to a formal meeting but stayed to acknowledge the 'party' for ten minutes before proceeding to his meeting. The idea that he had broken the law and flouted rules in this situation was nowhere near his mind at the time.
I am in despair at the desperate and pathetic witch-hunting going on to bring down the highly competent government of our country. It is infantile stupidity. It is time for people to take more notice of the real threats to our country, the world order and our democratic way of life, being perpetrated by Russia and China, and to which the Prime Minister must spend 100% of his time and energy addressing. Ten minute so-called 'parties' must be got into proportion.
Imposed rules were being inevitably broken in every office block in the country and also in many private homes. What has happened to people's common sense? Maybe people would prefer the likes of Presidents Putin and Zi to be our leaders!

Eh? Highly competent? Which country do you live in? Obviously not the UK.

Gathering, party, whatever you want to call it they have still been issued with a fine by the police. The police have issued fines in the past which have been consequently rescinded ( 2 girls with coffee). By all accounts, however, Boris has paid his, and in so doing he has admitted an offence, even if it’s just that he doesnt want to stir it further and is hoping it will go away. Some won’t let it go away and some won’t care as it’s 2years ago and we are in the middle of the Ukraine crisis and you don’t swap horses midstream. Whichever I can’t see him being the leader of the Conservatives come the next election.

The fine for Boris (and Rishi) that we've just heard about is probably just the first event Boris attended that was against the rules.
There'll be at least one more event, probably still being looked at by the police, for which he will be fined again.
As Mamie has just said, why would the police have fined him for nothing?
A Government that fails to obey its own laws should hang their heads in shame but this lot have too great a sense of entitlement that they can do whatever they like because that's what they've always done and usually got away with it.
Under Boris's so-called leadership, No.10 became Party Central Station and the culture of parties and boozing was normalised, probably at the taxpayers' expense.
If the Tories had any better alternatives as leader they would have sent in their 54 letters by now but they don't so we're all stuck with him.

Written to my MP who happens to be the Attorney General.

I am willing to place a significant wager that she will NOT uphold the law.

I think fines for more parties plus the local election results might yet cause Tory MPs to do the right thing and get rid of him.
Just out of interest, do people who think Johnson should stay because of Ukraine think that Neville Chamberlain should have stayed on as Prime Minister in 1940?

^Whitewavemark2

But he lied to parliament.

The ministerial code was broken. ^

???Exactly! The leader of our democratic country is a proven liar!!! How can we trust him? What else will he lie to parliament about? It beggars belief that people are willing to put up with this. We criticise Putin for only telling the Russian people what he wants them to know! I rest my case…

There are local elections in many places on 5th May, so if, as looks likely, he refuses to go, all the opposition candidates will be able to remind voters that he has broken his own rules and lied repeatedly. Neither Boris Johnson nor the Tory party can be trusted. We can only hope that will damage his party's prospects enough for him to be pushed out.

Nigel Mills Tory MP has announced that Johnson needs to resign. How can we support him best ?

Serial offenders.

They absolutely HAVE to resign or we are reduced to ‘banana republic’ status

Write and thank him.

This is the second tranche of fines; there are no doubt many more to be announced (as the police work through each of the 16 parties) - it appears that the Birthday party/gathering was not the only party Johnson attended - we will see. But to get things in proportion Paperstream the thing that is inexcusable and upsetting about the whole debacle is THE LIES, lots of them! It takes someone without a trace of honour or integrity to lie to The Queen, never mind the rest of the country. A highly competent government Paperstream - sorry, but I laughed out loud at that! There is absolutely no excuse for Johnson's behaviour. None.

Apparently there are 6 occasions where Johnson broke the law and attended a party. And then lied to parliament about it.

And the fact is he doesn’t think that rules and regulations have to apply to him. Or that he has to tell the truth. He has made a career out of lying. Over and over again.

Grandmabatty

Apparently there are 6 occasions where Johnson broke the law and attended a party. And then lied to parliament about it.

So to all those saying 'but it wasn't a proper party just cake with a few work colleagues, nothing to get worked up about' what excuse do you give for the other 5 parties he attended? The excuse that he didn't realise they were parties? He didn't understand his own rules? Really? Is he that thick? And you trust him to negotiate with other world leaders? I despair.

Thank you Paperstream for your sane and so sensible post. I am in despair too about the witch hunt. I recall going to an appointment in lockdown at our local hospital- a whole flood of doctors and nurses came streaming out of the hospital - all in hats, carrying cakes, booze and decorations, laughing joking and entering a room where there was loud music emanating - it was amazing that a doctor was left to see me? The hospital was their place of work as well as perhaps their home if they lived on site - rather like Downing Street- They were breaking the rules or the law if you like - but what if the law is an ass? The pandemic has been horrible for all of us - who could possibly know for certain the best way to deal with it? Luckily for most of us our speed in creating a vaccine was quite outstanding, so not everything was bad. It is so easy to criticise- but I just wonder how any other politicians who are now displaying nauseating self righteousness, would have fared?

I am in despair of what is being written here today. Any one with common sense can see what a down right liar we have governing this country.

mar76

I am in despair of what is being written here today. Any one with common sense can see what a down right liar we have governing this country.

What they don't seem to understand is that he BROKE THE LAW.

I saw a tweet yesterday from a former Spad, or civil servant (can't remember which) but she was the person who sat with him to write the covid regulations. She said they went through it line by line and looked at how it would work and what the implications were.

HOW CAN THE PERSON WHO PAINSTAKINGLY WROTE THE REGULATIONS NOT BE AWARE THAT HE WAS BREAKING THEM?

Sorry to shout but the utter stupidity of people repeating his feeble and lying excuse that he wasn't aware that he was breaking the regulations is really getting my goat. HE WROTE THE BLOODY THINGS

He clearly thinks that the populace is stupid and some of you are proving him to be correct.

And sheltering behind the war in Ukraine is despicable. WE ARE NOT AT WAR. All we are doing is supplying weapons. and training. We don't need Johnson in post to be able to do that.

So, if covid mutates into a more lethal, vaccine resistant variant and starts killing people in the 1,000s each day, as it was doing at the time he was partying, and he asks us to comply with restraints to curb the spread, makes laws to get us to comply, how many people are going to do what he asks?