Global statesman or a birthday buffoon?
HOW MANY “parties” would be too many? That’s the baffling question swirling around Westminster. The Prime Minister admits to breaking the law at one event, but possibly as many as six other “gatherings” could have had him on their guest lists. Some reports even have the number at a mind boggling twelve!
Initially, the “party” that supposedly put Boris Johnson’s future in jeopardy seemed a bit of a dull affair, amounting to nothing more than one untouched birthday cake, a plastic pot of salad, a dozen mini sausage rolls, a tub of chocolate biscuits, a pack of cheese puffs and four unopened tins of lager. And, it lasted for a full nine minutes.
Of course Boris cannot be excused for his stupidity here. In the very place he was making laws, he was also breaking them, and for people who obeyed the rules and didn’t spend crucial, and possibly even final hours with loved ones, nothing is ever likely to address their fury.
I get it. His repeated assurances to Parliament that there was “nothing to see here” and all the rules were adhered to were ill-judged and risible.
However, if this had been the only transgression, it packed as much punch in an attempt to get rid of him as a can of flat beer. It was, after all, hardly the stuff of those bunga-bunga orgies so beloved of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
And it was to mark the birthday of a man who just weeks earlier had been in intensive care battling coronavirus with, at times, his condition becoming increasingly grave.
The spectre haunting Johnson this weekend is just how many events he did attend – and how many it takes to make him a “repeat offender”.
Opposition parties understandably howl that Johnson must go, but yet again his fate is not in his own hands.
It seems incredible that precisely a week ago, Ukrainian Presidentvolodymyr Zelensky hailed Johnson as the world leader who was toiling hardest to protect
the beleaguered citizens of his country, even suggesting he would “go down in history” for his resolve. But, this is the rollercoaster of a Johnson premiership.
One minute he’s trying to build a coalition to take on a demonic, out-of-control world leader crazed on wholesale murder and possibly even genocide. The next he’s
promising everyone he didn’t munch on a mini sausage roll. Meanwhile, there’s no shortage of issues at home to be tackled.
The cost-of-living crisis will only get worse for some, and when you add in rising inflation and a surge in energy costs then the pain on Struggle Street will be acute for far too many.
The thorny issue of uncontrolled immigration was also tackled by Johnson at the end of last week, with a perplexing proposal to send migrants to Rwanda. Let’s file that under: “It’s an idea...” If – and acknowledging it’s a sizeable “if” that seems to grow bigger by the day – he can steer clear of any more stupid, self-inflicted errors, then courtesy of his assured handling of the Covid vaccines and his stance on Ukraine, Johnson deserves another chance to define his premiership in the time he has left.
But he has to realise, much like that “party,” it will be no piece of cake.
A REVIEW of the counterterrorism Prevent programme is due to be published. While by its very nature of confidentiality, we’re unlikely to ever hear of a slew of success stories where attacks have indeed been “prevented”, the mistakes are all too often shown up by their fatal outcomes.
We now know the murderer of MP Sir David Amess was referred to the programme by a teacher in 2014. It would be a fitting memorial if this programme can be made fit for purpose.
CHANCES are a few of you will be serving lamb this Easter. Whether in time for today or to accompany cold cuts or a lamb curry later this week, this is the perfect cedary dark red.
The Australian Wirra Wirra Church Block is £9.99 at Waitrose.