Boris Johnson

What happens next?

He’s so slick and very good at getting people on his side. He’s been sacked from most jobs mmm I wonder why? People thought he was charismatic but I just think he lies very well. Ask his previous wife…it was probably all her fault.

NO parties were essential for work- anywhere. No leaving dos either- nowhere. Not even 'leaving dos' for loved ones- aka funerals. The picture of the late Queen sitting on her own will resonate with so many of us forever.

👀 this is heartening

Nick Robinson

@bbcnickrobinson
·
45m
No-one watching the quizzing of
@BorisJohnson
can be in any doubt that the committee will now conclude that he recklessly misled MPs by repeating & relying on assurances that rules and guidance had not been broken inside Downing Street

Harriet Harman’s question towards the end got to the heart of the matter.

“If I was going at 100 miles an hour and I saw the speedometer saying 100 miles per hour, it would be a bit odd, wouldn’t it, if I said somebody assured me that I was not?”

Mr. Johnson’s insistence that the gatherings that occurred to ‘say goodbye’ to work colleagues, furnished with drinks and nibbles, were necessary work events must be galling to the relatives of people who didn’t attend funerals of loved ones.

As has been pointed out by someone on Facebook it was ok for Downing Street to organise a leaving do attended by lots of people for someone at a time when only 6 people could attend the funeral of a loved one.

Advice😡

I watched for a few minutes and seriously could not take any more. I just wanted to wipe that smirk off his face along with the entirely fake sincerity 🤬🤬🤬🤬

25Avalon

It’s about whether he deliberately lied or not. The inquiry lasted 3hours and 20 minutes. I thought he put his case across quite well but I’m not sure he’ll pull it off.

I should hope he put it across well! We paid for that advise😡

Boris’s character is reckless!

"deliberately or recklessly" deliberately may be a harder prove, but recklessly was adequately demonstrated in my opinion.

It’s about whether he deliberately lied or not. The inquiry lasted 3hours and 20 minutes. I thought he put his case across quite well but I’m not sure he’ll pull it off.

I really don't understand why, when we were all avoiding any sort of gatherings, and people were being denied visits to elderly relatives with dementia (who could not necessarily understand why), these people thought that they were entitled to "work events".

I keep going back to the sad pictures of the Queen sitting alone at her husband's funeral - she knew what the rest of the country was having to do. Why should 10 Downing Street be so different?

Jill Rutter senior fellow for Institute for Government - said - and I agree- that as leader we should expect the prime minister and his office to be the model which showed how everyone should behave in lockdown.

I've got a headache!

I can hardly believe the NHS staff and police in my family forgot to tell me how the bosses did the "essential work gathering", often accompanied by alcohol, to say "thank you". And I obviously missed the press reports of supermarket workers, refuse collectors, transport workers et al having their "thank you" gatherings.

He's totally lacking in any feelings of responsibility and seems to think he's something special and superior. As I recall his school report from Eton said as much.

I wish one of them had asked exactly what "work" was being done especially in the garden gathering when there wasn't a laptop, paper or pen to be seen.

Interesting to listen to Johnson saying that he would refuse to accept the committees verdict if he is found guilty of misleading parliament.

He appears to have thrown down the gauntlet.

I thought drinking at work had been unacceptable for years, but clearly there was a drinking culture at No.10.
I wonder if so many of these “gatherings” would have taken place if alcohol had not been involved?

It’s making me so cross watching it, I just cannot bear to listen to his arrogance. The thought that this man could make any sort of political comeback makes me despair. 🤬

I hope he is brought to book this time.
I expect he'll slimy out of it.

My husband and a colleague both left work "during Covid" and neither had a leaving "do" - there was an option of a zoom "drinks at home" party which they both declined.
His colleague had worked at the University for nearly 30 years.
I wonder how "essential" the no10 leaving do really was?

Interesting how his 'cuddly Boris' tousled hair can be tamed and look normal when it suits!

He’s a slippery, skilled liar. He’s making sure his responses are lengthy and focussed on the pressure under which number 10 was operating, He’s honed his craft at avoidance, minimisation and deflection over many years
He’s not trustworthy and lacks integrity. He uses his Eton/Oxford experience to good effect but we see him

He’s not controlling his body language well when he blames other people, which is telling.

He’s insisting the multiple gatherings were all necessary work events despite admitting his wife and interior designer were present on one occasion. He defended that by saying no 10 was her home and she was entitled to be present.

I think it’s impossible to prove that he knowingly misled Parliament.
Watching it he seems a lot more coherent than he used to be, even has combed hair!