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

We have a family member who is a retired Permanent Secretary. He first joined the civil service in the 1960s.

He is absolutely appalled by this government which he says is by far the very worst he has seen in his lifetime.

So the PM’s response to Sue Gray’s report is that he considered it part of his job to attend ‘gatherings’ to say goodbye to staff.

Who are the people who believe this twaddle?

We ALL knew that such things were NOT allowed (see my post above), so he really is saying that he believes he is exempt from the very rules he imposed on the rest of us! His arrogance and entitlement are breathtaking and yet he still has supporters among the ordinary population. I genuinely do not understand how this can be so. I’m very glad that none of my Conservative voting friends have maintained their support for this man and his despicable behaviours.

Lovetopaint, my husband worked as a civil servant for nearly thirty years and for the whole of that time it has been a sackable offence to consume alcohol in his workplace. He left a year ago, without any ‘leaving party’, because everyone was adhering to the rules.

I actually think it doesn’t help to talk about ‘partygate’ as there is no actual definition as to what constitutes a party. There were however guidelines/rules/laws about ‘gatherings’, face coverings and hand washing in place. There is now indisputable photographic evidence that people illegally gathered together in the presence of the PM. He knew the gatherings were against the rules and he took part. He was not ‘ambushed’. He was not coerced or forced. He then lied and lied again when directly questioned, in Parliament, about the events we now have evidence of.

Our Prime Minister is a proven liar who has zero integrity and should resign. If his sycophantic ministers and Conservative MPs keep him in place they should be prepared to have their own integrity questioned.

So on Christmas Day 2020 I stood on my doorstep and handed my daughter two large shopping bags containing her family's share of the Christmas dinner I had cooked. Not even a hug, she just took the bags and left. That was our idea of a lockdown party. No popping into the kitchen to share a quick drink. We stuck to what we understood to be the rules.

I am so ashamed of Mr Tumble [angry}

Nothing can shock me. Boris Johnson is shameless but our MPs are worse by siding with him in his lies for their own ends. How selfish.

My dd works for the civil service and she tells me that drink /drinking is not allowed on the premises as it is a disciplinary matter.
Just watching Channel 4 News and the desperate looking MP who is trying to excuse Johnson with the usual rubbish. They are as culpable as him. Let’s hope the electorate consider who stood up for Parliamentary democracy and who did not when the General Election arrives.

Jane43

Claims on BBC news this evening that security staff who tried to stop some of the parties were mocked.

Should make tonight's 'Panorama' even more intriguing.

Claims on BBC news this evening that security staff who tried to stop some of the parties were mocked.

Whitewavemark2

Did anyone listen to Grant Shapps (Green) on R4 this morning?

He claimed - wait for it- that Johnson was mourning his mum and clearly not partying in the picture???.

Johnson’s mother died 10 months later.

He was also on BBC Breakfast saying that the red box in the photo proved it was a work related event. I would like to know how much influence Sajid Javid’s brother had in the decisions taken by the Met.

DiamondLily

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.?

I hope you get a good response from your Tory MP DL

I might email mine, were it not for the fact that two months ago he was expelled from the Parliamentary Conservative Party because his face was splashed all over the Sunday Papers with reports that he had been accused of sexual harassment by three different women (complete with lurid details), had been photographed looking spaced out with what appeared to be lines of cocaine on an upturned baking tray, there were texts from him asking "does your dealer do Westminster Bridge" and commenting that £160 for cocaine was good value. Then it was revealed that he had borrowed a very large sum of money from an extremely dodgy Russian who had been declared unfit to be involved in financial services.

He has issued two statements. The first saying he had gone in to a psychiatric clinic suffering from shock. (presumably shock at being found out) and the second saying that as far as he knew there was no investigation as no-one had contacted him to ask questions.

Are the Met police not interested in class A drugs?

Are the parliamentary authorities not interested in accusations of sexual harassment?

HE HAS NOT RESIGNED!!!!

Does a hint of mental illness give him a get-out-of-jail-free card?

Who is representing the people of Somerton and Frome?

We should be having a by-election to rid ourselves of these awful Tories.

It gets worse
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61566410

I agree with both your posts Boz.

We shouldn't forget that Johnson's strict lockdown rules enabled police constable Wayne Couzens to stop Sarah Everard in the street and accuse her of breaking the rules, she believed him (as most people would) and let him handcuff her and put her in the car. I still find it terrifying to imagine what that poor girl went through. That is why it is so disgusting to think of the people in No 10, especially the PM, partying and ignoring the rules

Boz

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

Yep. Max Hastings warned everybody.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/24/boris-johnson-prime-minister-tory-party-britain

Some of us listened but some of us have never voted Tory anyway and never would.

It was never any secret what Johnson was like. His adorning fans should go back and read what he was writing at Oxford about politics and how to persuade stooges to vote for people like him. He was particulary scathing about female stooges who vote for people like him with their porky decisiveness. How anyone can thing he is not utterly repugnant is a mystery. He has nothing but contempt for ... well pretty much everybody really especially those ministers who support him in their pathetic daily media appearances defending the indefensible. He take everyone for a fool.

Listening to Tom Tugendhat on Times Radio today, however diplomatic he was, I detect a shift in mood amongst the backbenchers and remain hopeful that we may soon be rid of this monstrous man.

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

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

DiamondLily totally agree with your post 15.34

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.?

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 ………….

So depressing

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.

I have!

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

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.