The latest 'Partygate' event that apparently never happened...

Panorama this evening

Watch Laura Kuenssberg's Panorama, Partygate: Inside the Story, on BBC Two at 19:00 BST or later on the BBC iPlayer

Yes growstuff Johnson and Anderson along with other red wall MPs met on 12 November. Anderson reported to the Yorkshire Post that he has symptoms on Friday 13 November but did not test until the following day. His wife has cystic fibrosis. He said:

“On Friday I lost my sense of taste at the same time my wife had a bad headache. I had no cough, no fever and felt well. We both had a test on Saturday and the result came in Sunday morning. My wife and I both tested positive."

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/15/boris-johnson-told-to-self-isolate-after-coronavirus-contact

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54956076

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/politics/lee-anderson-who-ashfield-mp-who-met-boris-johnson-then-tested-positive-covid-3037478

The five other MPs self-isolating following the meeting with "Red Wall" Tories include:

Heywood & Middleton MP Chris Clarkson
South Ribble MP Katherine Fletcher
Warrington South MP Andy Carter
Great Grimsby MP Lia Nici
Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith.

Mr Johnson's spokesman declined to name the aides but suggested they were not Lee Cain or Dominic Cummings.

Suggest isn't really good enough, is it?

This notion, from some media quarters that there was some kind of work bubble is proposterous. These people were spreading the virus far and wide.

These people were spreading the virus far and wide.

And it was precisely as a result of this kind of behaviour that infection did spread. I remember that, at the time, there was an attempt to shift the blame on to the general public. The message was that the government was doing all it could but it couldn't stop people from breaking the rules.

Any person going out of their home and meeting other folks for work purposes was capable of spreading Covid-19.

Not all had the luxury of working from home.

I read, oldbat, that Johnson wasn't asked to complete a questionnaire about this particular event as it "wasn't necessary" according to Downing Street.
Sorry, can't remember where I read it.

Yes, you're right GrannyGravy13. Some people did have to work outside the home. The idea was to lower the risk by minimising contact and to give those who needed to use public transport etc more space.

If only essential workers had had contact with others, it would have been so much easier to control the spread, but it depended on everybody working together to common rules. I'm sure everybody remembers the Cummings incidents, when people just gave up. The feeling was that what's good for those in charge is good enough for the public. There was a huge amount of psychological pressure to fit in. The country needed leadership and good role models.

Panorama tonight (7pm), is running a special programme, after civil servants, who worked there, have agreed to talk.

There were numerous events, every week, and Johnson was at most. He organised some of them.

Meanwhile, here's one of the predicted "deflection headlines" on "breaking news".

Pensions to go up by 10% next April.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10849513/State-pension-set-soar-10-CENT-No10-warns-public-sector-workers-pay-rises.html

I am disgusted at our Prime Minister's lies and subterfuge.

He has been discredited, lied and further lied and shown no morality. He should step down for the good of his party.

I used to vote Conservative but the way he has led his party (encouraging lie upon lie) has lost him my vote.

I hope to see letters being sent into the 1922 committee PDQ

There was a chap on TV this morning (1 can’t remember who) saying that if the PM said it wasn’t a party and the Met said it wasn’t a party then it wasn’t a party.
I couldn’t believe it was for real.

I confess that, as somebody who would never vote Conservative, it's tempting to hope that no letters will be sent because I honestly don't think the public is stupid and immoral enough to vote for a party led by a buffoon and a bunch of hapless hangers on.

On the other hand, I do care enough about my country to see it being "led" like this. I could accept a Conservative government led by one of the more honorable Conservative MPs (and I do believe there are some).

Panorama tonight (7pm), is running a special programme, after civil servants, who worked there, have agreed to talk.

See my post at 13.59

There's a video preview...

MaizieD

^Panorama tonight (7pm), is running a special programme, after civil servants, who worked there, have agreed to talk.^

See my post at 13.59

There's a video preview...

One of the interviews was shown on the lunchtime news, damming to say the least…

It seems to me that Raynor was very restrained when she called the Tories “scum”

Rosalyn69

There was a chap on TV this morning (1 can’t remember who) saying that if the PM said it wasn’t a party and the Met said it wasn’t a party then it wasn’t a party.
I couldn’t believe it was for real.

Yeah ... Aristotle and a 17th century pope claimed the Earth is the centre of the Universe, so it must have been true.

Whitewavemark2

It seems to me that Raynor was very restrained when she called the Tories “scum”

Not all Tories are scum Whitewavemark2 Ms.Rayner did not do herself any favours with her rant.

DiamondLily

Panorama tonight (7pm), is running a special programme, after civil servants, who worked there, have agreed to talk.

There were numerous events, every week, and Johnson was at most. He organised some of them.

Meanwhile, here's one of the predicted "deflection headlines" on "breaking news".

Pensions to go up by 10% next April.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10849513/State-pension-set-soar-10-CENT-No10-warns-public-sector-workers-pay-rises.html

What a surprise! The pension age group is about the only one which thinks Johnson is still doing a good job and supports him. The latest YouGov poll shows that even they are deserting him and his government

I have!

GrannyGravy13

Any person going out of their home and meeting other folks for work purposes was capable of spreading Covid-19.

Not all had the luxury of working from home.

I would argue that a meeting between six red wall MPs who do not appear to have conducted any other Parliamentary business on that day - that I can see in the records - could have had held their meeting virtually and at a great saving to the public purse. Every time Lee Anderson takes a train from Ashfield to London it costs just shy of £200. Some of those MPs come from constituencies further from London. So, aside from the very real danger of spreading of Covid, that meeting would have cost the taxpayer around £1500 in train fares alone.

So depressing

GrannyGravy13

Whitewavemark2

It seems to me that Raynor was very restrained when she called the Tories “scum”

Not all Tories are scum Whitewavemark2 Ms.Rayner did not do herself any favours with her rant.

It was not a rant. To suggest that is hyperbole.

Raynor commented on her view of the Tories, and given what she has had to put up with from them ………….

I don't think, for a moment, that all Tory MPs are bad.

Many are decent, but they need to grow a pair, and get a better leader.

My local Tory MP is ok, but I will be Emailing him after the Gray report is released, to ask him what he intends to do.?

DiamondLily totally agree with your post 15.34

We all knew what Johnson was before we voted for him. The electorate is as much to blame for putting Brexit before anything else. Mea Culpa

And while playing Lord High Executioner, Labour is to blame for have such a useless Leader as Corbyn. No wonder Johnson walked it.