So ... no more fines for Boris!

Callistemon21 Perhaps it was how well she performed to Dancing Queen?

More likely Pole Dancing Queen.

He has paid his fines, what about Keir? He seems to think he’s untouchable for doing exactly the same, could it be he knows the ways if the law inside out and the right people.

vegansrock

He was a terrible London mayor - closing down police and fire stations when he said he wouldn’t, spending afternoons when he was supposed to be working round at his lovers flat getting “technology lessons”, and getting his underlings to cover/ lie for him. He definitely is teflon man now, I’m just looking forward to the day when the shit finally sticks. My Italian relatives laugh at us now saying - well we had Berlusconi - now you’ve got someone worse!

I know the feeling - I laughed and sent them up when my American friends and relatives got Trump.

The shoe's on the other foot now - they laugh at me that we've ended up with Johnson - our Pound Shop Trump.?

But, Johnson doesn't understand normal, decent boundaries - and one day he will push it that bit too far, and he will be gone.

If he was staggeringly successful at running the country, then he might get away with it all. But, he's not, he's just hopeless, as are his cabinet.?

Hmm- I'm not sure that the Leader of the Opposition did " exactly the same ", Allsorts.
No beer fridges, no entertaining of wallpaper selector etc.
I think it's a little blinkered to compare one event with many.

"Probably with the active instigation of his young wife". Yes, let's blame the females again. Nothing to do with him.

It was a different time of year, and electoral campaigns were exempt from a lot of the rules.

Durham Police will make the decision, but at least Starmer has had the integrity to say he will resign, if fined.

Unlike the sleazebag in Number 10.

Rubbish, Allsorts. Johnson has received and paid one fine, not fines. Starmer has not been fined (yet) and if he is he has said he will resign.

In this latest round of fines, perhaps you can answer why Johnson has not been fined for gatherings he is known to have attended while other people who attended the same events have been fined?

Plenty of legal commentary in today’s newspapers - lawyers saying this defies logic. One explanation offered is that no-one was interviewed. This has been a paper-based investigation.

One lawyer said that as people were not arrested and not questioned under caution there was no obligation to complete the forms. They posit that those fined are the people who were open about what happened while others may have been economical with the truth.

“If someone was sent one of those questionnaires and they went to me, I’d say: don’t answer it,” [a] criminal lawyer said. “You’ve got no obligation to fill it in. You’re not under arrest. You’ve not even been cautioned. If you tell the truth, you might be fined, and if you lie, you’re potentially committing another offence. So why risk it?”

So be very careful about labelling Starmer alone as knowing the law and the right people.

Loyalty to Johnson, accepting that he is not accountable and above the law is tantamount to supporting a dictator.

Allsorts

He has paid his fines, what about Keir? He seems to think he’s untouchable for doing exactly the same, could it be he knows the ways if the law inside out and the right people.

What I just cannot for the life of me understand is why you, or anyone at all, are defending this putrid excuse for a human being.

What extraordinarily special quality does he have which completely excuses the lying, the laziness, the freeloading, the sexual incontinence and the law breaking (to name but a few)? What quality of Johnson's overrides the stench of corruption which surrounds him?
What makes you happy with a PM who is leading a government that is becoming the most repressive we have ever known?

This is a genuine question.

Imagine that you are a junior civil servant who attended parties in No 10 along with your senior managers and politicians including Johnson.

The juniors it seems are the only ones receiving fines.

I would be very, very pissed off.

Whitewavemark2

Imagine that you are a junior civil servant who attended parties in No 10 along with your senior managers and politicians including Johnson.

The juniors it seems are the only ones receiving fines.

I would be very, very pissed off.

Have those who received FPNs other than Mr.Johnson and Mr.Sunak been made public?

I hope the Met Police have acted with due diligence as I also hope that Durham Police will act accordingly.

Is it true that the Health Secretary’s brother was in charge of the investigation?

Whitewavemark2

Is it true that the Health Secretary’s brother was in charge of the investigation?

It’s true that he is a policeman.

Ken Macdonald, former Director of Public Prosecutions, on the radio this morning says this is draining public confidence (as if the tank wasn’t already empty).

Senior staff e.g. the cabinet secretary who organised events was not fined. Junior staff who were asked to attend the events the cabinet secretary organised were fined. The police silence and refusal to explain their decisions is unhelpful and smacks of strings being pulled and legal wriggling for the most senior.

No, the police are not releasing names.

MaizieD

Allsorts

He has paid his fines, what about Keir? He seems to think he’s untouchable for doing exactly the same, could it be he knows the ways if the law inside out and the right people.

What I just cannot for the life of me understand is why you, or anyone at all, are defending this putrid excuse for a human being.

What extraordinarily special quality does he have which completely excuses the lying, the laziness, the freeloading, the sexual incontinence and the law breaking (to name but a few)? What quality of Johnson's overrides the stench of corruption which surrounds him?
What makes you happy with a PM who is leading a government that is becoming the most repressive we have ever known?

This is a genuine question.

Good luck getting an answer….

OakDryad

Ken Macdonald, former Director of Public Prosecutions, on the radio this morning says this is draining public confidence (as if the tank wasn’t already empty).

Senior staff e.g. the cabinet secretary who organised events was not fined. Junior staff who were asked to attend the events the cabinet secretary organised were fined. The police silence and refusal to explain their decisions is unhelpful and smacks of strings being pulled and legal wriggling for the most senior.

No, the police are not releasing names.

The Met: we don't investigate historical crimes (as if there were any other kind) but show us a peaceful vigil to mark the murder of a young woman by one of our own and we'll be straight in with batons and tear gas.

GrannyGravy13

Whitewavemark2

Is it true that the Health Secretary’s brother was in charge of the investigation?

It’s true that he is a policeman.

Wasn't he Cressida Dick''s deputy?

Is he in temporary charge now or did they bring someone in as acting head until a new political appointee is in post?

Mr Bas Javid is Deputy Assistant Police Commission of Met Police.

I think that it is common practice that police officers do not work on cases where family members may or may not be implicated.

I hope the Met Police have acted with due diligence as I also hope that Durham Police will act accordingly.

How can they have acted with due diligence when they didn't interview any of the suspected party goers, but sent out forms which they were not obliged to fill in? Forms which didn't ask about who else was at the parties?

Lots of questions asked on Adam Wagner (barrister)'s twitter time line

twitter.com/AdamWagner1

Interesting to revisit the press coverage of the court case about the vigil for Sarah Everard:

Tom Hickman QC said: "The most significant 'threat' identified was not public health but the perceived reputational risk to the (force), including in the event they were perceived to be permitting or facilitating the vigil."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60707646

How does this square with the police who provide security in Whitehall who could not have been unaware of the many social gathering which took place on their watches? Blind eye?

GrannyGravy13

I think that it is common practice that police officers do not work on cases where family members may or may not be implicated.

Was his brother ever even mentioned in connection with the parties?

Even if he didn't work on the investigation he is well positioned to exert pressure...

You have to admit that there are a lot of peculiarities in this result...

MaizieD I have given up on this Government under Mr.Johnson.

Nothing surprises or shocks me, speculating when not in possession of the full facts is a waste of energy. There is absolutely nothing I can do until the GE.
I feel the same towards Mr.Starmer and Mr.Cummings Durham episodes.

I have other things to worry/use my energy on.

If Adam Wagner is struggling to make sense of this then I have no chance. He writes:

I don't think the regulations allow for someone to participate in an illegal gathering legally, as it were. The questions are (1) is there a reasonable excuse for the gathering, e.g. the gathering is reasonably necessary for work, (2) if not did a person "participate"

Among the comments from others is one that says, as a consequence of this, should a new wave of Covid occur, any attempt to impose new restrictions on the public could be widely ignored. The police would be powerless to act.

I'm starting to think this is all deliberately orchestrated. Hunger and cold. Uncontrolled spread of deadly infection should a new wave of Covid occur. It's a cheap way for a fascist dictator to cull the old and the poor without the need for gas chambers.

Spectacular backfire on the left.

They went after Boris, missed the target and hit their own people in the blob. Civil serpents copped it.

UG I don't think it's about left or right. There are some decent Tory MPs (our local one is ok). There are some pretty awful people, on the left.

The Civil Servants have been thrown under the party bus.

Johnson is a self serving ponce, (with people paying for his food and decorating), he's adulterous, a congenital liar, and an embarrassing oaf, with no idea how to behave. He would be the same, whichever party he led.

He's got away with it - no surprise there. Normal decent standards, for some reason, don't seem to be applied to him.

I wouldn't mind if he was, actually, leading this country well - he's not, he's running it into the ground.

He looks after himself first, followed by his chums and donors.

He cares nothing for the little people.

And that's why he needs to be gone.?