So ... no more fines for Boris!

DiamondLily

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.?

I agree with you 100%, DiamondLily.

I disagree that Johnson is an oaf because that suggests he is clumsy and unintelligent. People who have worked with him at The Spectator and the Telegraph describe him as calculating, ruthless and very intelligent. He knows exactly what he is doing. He changes his colours regularly and solely to garner the support of the gullible entirely for his own ends which is to create chaos and destabilise the country.

It is the game that all narcissistics play; to lie, to blameshift, to confound and confuse until people start to doubt their own sanity. How many of us are asking ourselves, How is this happening and how can we stop it?

Johnson will be loving all of this. His very energy comes from pushing the boundaries to see what he can get away with. He has assembled a malleable cabinet to be no more than flying monkeys as are all the people who continue to voice support for him. It is gaslighting on a national level, moreover, achieved with dirty Russian money to influence both the 2016 Referendum and the 2019 General Election.

Johnson's support for Ukraine must go down as one of the most hypocritical turncoat acts in world history. Enabling the dictator and then running to the aid of the oppressed to be seen as a glorified saviour.

Quite honestly the fines really are irrelevant even if extremely irritating that Johnson has swerved them..

What is relevant is that a PM of the U.K. lied to parliament.

One thing for sure if you ever find yourself on a sinking ship and need the lifeboat the first one on it will be leader Johnson regardless of how many he leaves behind.

In the daily deluge of mismanagement and scandal I have rather lost track of some things. Now the police investigations are concluded doesn't Johnson now have to appear before the Commons Select Committee of Privileges?

However, I seem to recall that Chris Bryant said he would recuse himself from the chair after Rees Mogg alleged he would be biased. The committee is biased towards the Tories - four of the seven members are Tories. If Bryant, as Labour chair, is obliged to recuse does that mean it goes ahead with six members only two of which are not in the same party as Johnson? How will this not be biased?

OakDryad

In the daily deluge of mismanagement and scandal I have rather lost track of some things. Now the police investigations are concluded doesn't Johnson now have to appear before the Commons Select Committee of Privileges?

However, I seem to recall that Chris Bryant said he would recuse himself from the chair after Rees Mogg alleged he would be biased. The committee is biased towards the Tories - four of the seven members are Tories. If Bryant, as Labour chair, is obliged to recuse does that mean it goes ahead with six members only two of which are not in the same party as Johnson? How will this not be biased?

Yes and of course Sue Grey.

She is it is being said threatening to name, but we shall see.

Johnson is very cocky about it all so I guess he thinks that he has somehow managed to get off the hook.

Chris Bryant recused himself because, according to the letter he sent to the committee, he had previously commented to the media

In a letter to members of the committee, he said: “I understand that some Honourable and Right Honourable Members have questioned whether I should chair such an inquiry into the Prime Minister, given that I have made several statements in the media on this matter.

It is easy to now accuse the Committee of bias because of its preponderance of tory members, but tis could be impugning them. Cross party committees tend to be less partisan and more objective than people give them credit for. And Johnson has p*ssed off so many tory MPs that I doubt many will be out to do him a favour.

I can't find any recent information on who will chair it in his place. Various names were touted at the time, including Harriet Harman.

Volver, just Starmer and Rayner to be fined , oh wait, Durham do not issue retrospective fines more than 6 months after so they’ll get away with it, If the Met fines were challenged, they would be quashed as they were issued far too late.
Perhaps everyone, especially the media can focus on things that are actually important instead of trivial rubbish now

Anyone know the plural of mumpsimus?

Five page thread, I haven't posted since page 1 but someone thinks its worth naming me and telling me something irrelevant to what I said all those days ago?

Someone might think I was being unfairly singled out. ?

Yes, Maizie I agree that it would be unfair to assume bias and in doing do impugn decent members of the committee. I just wish a few more would pick up their pens and sign a letter to Brady else aren't they all tainted by association?

Zonne

Anyone know the plural of mumpsimus?

C. P. Snow Corridors of Power She spoke with an extreme display of mumpsimus, persisting confidently in error.

Mumsimusses, I believe.

Zonne

Anyone know the plural of mumpsimus?

I'd always thought it was 'mumpsimuses' and Collins dic. online confirms

www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mumpsimus

I think you were being a bit too subtle there, Zonne

He should go. He should have gone long ago.

I was lucky enough to survive this pandemic and my family along with me, although my daughter was very poorly with it.

I would have loved a party for my 70th that fell slap bang in the middle of it all, but being obedient folks it didn't happen.

So there were 12 parties resulting in 126 FPNs. Johnson was at several of them but receives no fines other than for the mildest and least serious infringement. Smalls like a stitch up to me. But it's irrelevant. He lied to the House about there being no parties or rule breaking, when he had attended several and has been deemed worthy of a fine for one now. He should go.

TopsyIrene06

Quiet? I'm not. What I am is furious , more at the people who accept this shoddy government. You have to wonder why so many ignore the lying and double standards.
KS will, in all probability be found guilty which is fine if it isn't a stitch up by the Met. and then, just maybe, the general public will ask a few questions. Or have we generally lowered our standards because there is nothing better to chose from? How sad life has become.
If you have a minute, listen to the speech made by Mairi Black in the Commons yesterday. Food for thought.

As much as I loathe BJ, I am also really concerned at the role the Met have played in this fiasco. We at least stand a chance of getting rid of one ( and before anyone gives me more examples, I appreciate there have been others) of the most unprincipled men in the history of politics at the next GE but if we can’t have absolute trust in the organisation that is supposed to protect us…..

Brownow I am saddened that you regard the Prime Minister lying to Parliament as trivial. According to the rules of the house, this is a resigning matter, far from trivial.

I feel so sad about our country. We have a government led by a law-breaking liar - why would any of us trust him, given his long track record. Today’s Times Rich List shows the number of UK billions has increased in the last 12 months, while ordinary working people are struggling to survive financially. Our government and PM can get away with anything now. I have no more words - just sadness.

LizzieDrip I share your sadness, almost reduced to tears in the week listening to the government benches laughing as members from other parties asked for something to be done to alleviate hardship. Especially so the carelessness shown towards Stephen McCabe's question about the 9000 elderly people who died from cold last year. That will surely rise this year while the Sunaks' personal millions are protected in tax havens.

My understanding is that he received just the one fine which is strange but not surprising. Yes, he lied, however many fines he did or didn't receive.

Thank God for that. Tbh I think we’ve got more pressing things to deal with right now. I’d like both parties to just cooperate and concentrate on Russia (and the looming economic crisis)
I personally think Putin poses such a huge threat to us, more than ever the worse his war is going for him, so whether or not Boris or Starmer had social gatherings during lockdown, although of importance, aren’t actually the main priority at this dangerous time.

Thanks OakDryad and MaizieD - and you may be right about the subtlety, Maizie, but I couldn’t resist trying!

It hugely concerns me that most of the Tory MPs are happy to accept a liar as their leader. What does this say about them?

Going off at a tangent here but the PM’s father has just been granted French citizenship. So he will be able to reap the benefit of being in the EU while the rest of us still don’t have access to those benefits because of his son.

The government is led by a liar, that is the issue of major concern. He gets one fine for breaking the law but no more for letting his workplace and home be used for lawbreaking parties?
Also of major concern - the police (standing in the doorstep) knew this was going on and did nothing to stop it. It brings the independence of the police into serious question.