The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Lowering the bar for accountability won’t shield this partying PM from voters’ fury
Shall we go back to the beginning of Partygate? It was only three short months ago but a lot has happened since. Season one started when The Mirror reported there had been some social events held in Downing Street during Christmas 2020.
I want to remind you of this timeline partly to set the scene, but mostly to reassure myself that I’m not going mad.
In response to the allegations, the prime minister insisted: “All guidance was followed completely in Number 10.’’
His official spokesperson said: “Covid rules have been followed at all times.’’
Once more, because this is important: Boris Johnson told us, explicitly, that there were no parties, no rule-breaking, not one single instance of lockdown breaches at all, at any time.
That was how it started. We know what happened next.
More denials, lies and sleight of hand from a man and a government determined to wriggle away from their wrongdoing. More parties were uncovered.
Then cheese and wine...abba...ambushed by a cake...suitcases of booze...a broken swing...a new wine fridge...
Downing Street launched an investigation, then had to un-launch it because the man they had put in charge of investigating the parties had attended one of them himself.
Civil Service enforcer Sue Gray was brought in and became the most famous woman in the land.
By that point, she had no fewer than 16 parties to investigate.
The Met Police intervened just as she was ready to publish her findings and announced it would be launching its own investigation.
And the force would be looking into 12 of the parties.
As a result, Sue Gray’s report was neutered.
She was only permitted to offer the public her general findings, stripped of all the crucial details.
But what she was allowed to say was damning in itself.
Her initial findings reported “failures of leadership” and she said “some of the events should not have been allowed to take place’’.
Some of the gatherings, she said, “represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time”.
Phew. Now we’ve all caught up. We’re back in the present. But during that fastforward, the VHS seems to have glitched.
The ribbon has snagged or there’s dust under the cover or something.
Because somehow, yet another con trick has been played right under our noses.
Now, we’re told, the real test for whether the prime minister has done anything wrong is if the Metropolitan Police find he has broken the law and decide to issue him with a fixed penalty notice.
The goalposts have been moved once again.
Now it’s not about the truth of what happened.
It’s not about the grotesque injustice of the rule-makers being rule-breakers.
Nor is it about the grieving families who have been traumatised again due to this government’s actions.
It’s not about those poor souls who now feel guilty for having followed the rules, when breaking them would have allowed them to squeeze the hand of their dying relative one last time.
It’s not about a prime minister lying to parliament and breaking the ministerial code.
And nor is it about his failures and feckless leadership.
No, the test now is apparently whether he receives a fixed penalty notice from the police.
And we just have to ignore all the times when the prime minister’s own words proved his guilt.
The question should not be whether the prime minister can survive if he is issued with a fixed penalty notice.
We should be asking why on Earth his party has accepted the grubby lies that have brought us here.
His most shameless cheerleaders insist that, ultimately, he can do what he likes.
He’s the prime minister and he’s their pal.
It’s quite literally is his party and he can lie if he wants to.
In a recent television interview, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries set a new test for standards in public life.
She admitted that she would still support the prime minister if he is found to have broken the law, but she would “probably’’ withdraw her support if he kicked a dog.
Read that sentence again and then remember how this all started.
How must our allies and enemies around the globe see us?
Do they think the Conservative Party is generously loyal and forgiving, or downright stupid?
Leave aside the morality of it for a moment, even the hard politics of Mr Johnson’s continued employment makes little sense.
The Conservative Party has assured its own eventual destruction by strapping itself to a lit firework just because it likes the pretty colours.
Boris Johnson once burned bright and bold, but he is fading fast.
His party might have shamelessly set out a new test for removing him but the public made up its mind a long time ago.
Boris Johnson once burned bright and bold, but he is fading fast