The Prosecco Squad
After spending the last two years attacking Keir Starmer for “the apparent crime of being a lawyer”, Boris Johnson is now hiring one himself, said Tom Peck in The Independent. The PM has been sent a questionnaire by the Metropolitan Police over the breaking of lockdown rules during Downing Street gatherings. It’s understood the PM has employed hot-shot private lawyers to handle it. His defence, it seems, hinges on the unique nature of 10 Downing Street: a workplace for many, but a private home for Johnson. It’s a puzzling distinction, say critics, since during lockdown “parties were illegal both in homes and workplaces”. His prevarications can’t hide the truth, said Martin Kettle in The Guardian: “he’s finished”. The polls suggest irreparable damage has been done: 70% of UK voters are now “dissatisfied” with him. We might have to wait for the 5 May local elections before the curtain comes down, but for once it seems “the rules really will apply to the Prime Minister”.
This is getting ludicrous, said Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail. The Met’s “Prosecco Squad” has sent questionnaires to 50 Downing Street staff and is sifting through 300 photos taken at “suspect “gatherings” including Johnson’s 56th birthday party. I won’t defend lawbreaking at No. 10, but is that really a sensible use of Scotland Yard’s time, when homicide rates are soaring and only 3.8% of burglaries are solved? The political classes are “frankly deranged” over Partygate: even the former Tory PM John Major has been “disinterred to slag off Boris”. This looks like “the revenge of the pro-EU establishment”. True, Major has long resented Johnson, said The Times, but it’s hard to disagree with his charge that the PM is “damaging trust in democracy”. Johnson’s “entire political strategy” seems focused on winning over the 181 MPs needed to survive any Tory vote of confidence. It looks like a government bent on “saving jobs” rather than “delivering policy”.
Whisper it, but that strategy just might work, said Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph. The new, humbler Boris, who listens to the Tory party, is already “improving the quality of the Government”. He followed the party’s instincts on abolishing Covid restrictions a month early, rather than relying on the scientific advisers. He may even take on problems such as NHS reform. It doesn’t look like better government to me, said Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer. It looks like “different gangs of backbench hostage-takers” are demanding “red meat” from No. 10. For now, most Tory MPs “are neither dedicated to his removal nor committed to his survival”. Things will come to a head when the Met reports – and the PM either does, or doesn’t, get a fixed penalty. Even if he does, he may try to brazen it out. The Tories will have to decide how far they will go with “Operation Save Big Dog”.