No 10 rule breaking gatherings during 2020.

[brad465]

Now for the next party revelation, sure to mess with Sue Gray's head as she puts the finishing touches on her report - Boris Johnson allegedly had a birthday party on the 19th June 2020 in the Cabinet room, for himself with up to 30 people believed to have attended:

Boris Johnson had birthday bash during lockdown, ITV News understands | ITV News

It's alleged that the prime minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, helped organise a surprise get-together for him on the afternoon of 19 June just after 2pm. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

ITV News understands Boris Johnson had a birthday party during the first lockdown in 2020 despite the rules forbidding social gatherings indoors at the time.

It's alleged that the prime minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, helped organise a surprise get-together for him on the afternoon of 19 June just after 2pm.

Up to 30 people are said to have attended the event in the Cabinet Room after Boris Johnson returned from an official visit to a school in Hertfordshire.

ITV News understands that the interior designer, Lulu Lytle - who was not a member of No 10 staff - also attended the gathering. At the time Ms Lytle was renovating Boris Johnson’s flat in Downing Street, which has been the subject of a separate controversy.

ITV News also understands that on the evening of 19 June 2020, family friends were hosted upstairs in the prime minister’s residence in an apparent further breach of the rules. Number 10 have denied this, claiming the prime minister only hosted a small number of family members outside.At the afternoon event, Carrie Johnson and Lulu Lytle are believed to have presented the prime minister with a cake whilst his wife led staff in a chorus of happy birthday.Those assembled are understood to have eaten picnic food from M&S, with the gathering lasting for around 20-30 minutes. Downing St say the prime minister only attended for less than 10 minutes.

In June 2020 social gatherings indoors were still forbidden under lockdown laws. At the time there was also intense concern about the potential for singing to spread Covid-19, with choirs unable to meet to rehearse.

ITV News understands those present at the afternoon party included the prime minister’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, who had previously invited over 100 staff to a drinks party on 20 May 2020.

Jack Doyle, currently No10's director of communications, and the head of operations, Shelley Williams-Walker, are also said to have been there. They were joined by other members of the Prime Minister's Private Office, No10 special advisers and No10 operations and events staff.

The week before his birthday party, Boris Johnson had asked the rest of the country to stick to the guidance in a press conference from Downing Street. “I urge everyone to continue to show restraint and respect the rules which are designed to keep us all safe. It’s only because of the restraint that everyone, you all have shown so far, that we are able to move gradually out of this lockdown”, he said on 10 June 2020.

He added: "It is emphatically not designed for people who don't qualify to start meeting inside other people's homes - that remains against the law."

 

[DelayRepay]

And another one!

Boris Johnson had birthday bash during lockdown, ITV News understands | ITV News

It's alleged that the prime minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, helped organise a surprise get-together for him on the afternoon of 19 June just after 2pm. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

ITV News understands Boris Johnson had a birthday party during the first lockdown in 2020 despite the rules forbidding social gatherings indoors at the time.

It's alleged that the prime minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, helped organise a surprise get-together for him on the afternoon of 19 June just after 2pm.

Up to 30 people are said to have attended the event in the Cabinet Room after Boris Johnson returned from an official visit to a school in Hertfordshire.

ITV News understands that the interior designer, Lulu Lytle - who was not a member of No 10 staff - also attended the gathering. At the time Ms Lytle was renovating Boris Johnson’s flat in Downing Street, which has been the subject of a separate controversy.

I wonder if Sue Gray will ever be able to complete her investigations?!

 

[brad465]

And another one!

Boris Johnson had birthday bash during lockdown, ITV News understands | ITV News

It's alleged that the prime minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, helped organise a surprise get-together for him on the afternoon of 19 June just after 2pm. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

I wonder if Sue Gray will ever be able to complete her investigations?!

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

And another one!

Boris Johnson had birthday bash during lockdown, ITV News understands | ITV News

It's alleged that the prime minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, helped organise a surprise get-together for him on the afternoon of 19 June just after 2pm. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

I wonder if Sue Gray will ever be able to complete her investigations?!

BoJo knows she won't directly implicate him so he is probably leaking a party a week to keep pushing back the publishing date. He also now trying to think he is Churchill by mouthing off by telling Russia that invading Ukraine would be "disastrous" and a "painful, violent and bloody business is just more distraction politics.

The fact is there are just too many spineless Tories who are only interested in themselves to take him down so unfortunately he will ride this one out and unless the electorate give them an almighty bashing at the local elections he will survive.

 

[bramling]

he will ride this one out and unless the electorate give them an almighty bashing at the local elections he will survive.

The latter is possibly the straw which will break the camel's back. The by-elections do seem to indicate that people aren't impressed with all this.

It's a safe bet that the Putin situation will be utilised as a distraction tactic.

 

[Simon11]

You just couldn't make it up!

So many children lost out on the opportunity to enjoy their birthday while he and his partner organise celebrations.

Why has it taken till now for people to speak up?

 

[Busaholic]

Shouldn't we think about introducing impeachment?

 

[dgl]

He also now trying to think he is Churchill by mouthing off by telling Russia that invading Ukraine would be "disastrous" and a "painful, violent and bloody business is just more distraction politics.

I wonder if Russia might have some information on him from some of the "bunga bunga" parties he attended organised by a russian oligarch in Italy. BoJo might want to keep quiet.

 

[takno]

Shouldn't we think about introducing impeachment?

I guess the equivalent for us would be for the queen to ask the supreme court to express an opinion on whether she should sack him. Unfortunately she's too avowedly non-interventionist to do that, and too hidebound by tradition to offer a more modern route to achieve the same thing

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Shouldn't we think about introducing impeachment?

That needs 2/3rds of the Senate to vote for it at least here we only need 54 Tories to send a letter which is only 15% of them but seems unlikely it will happen anytime soon.

 

[seagull]

It certainly seems to confirm suspicions that the seriousness of Covid was being well and truly overstated to us peasants.

 

[Gloster]

Perhaps he didn’t know that it was his birthday and didn’t realise that people standing round eating cake isn’t normal practice at a meeting. Or maybe he just didn’t think that anyone would want to celebrate his birthday...which is slightly more believable.

 

[bramling]

That needs 2/3rds of the Senate to vote for it at least here we only need 54 Tories to send a letter which is only 15% of them but seems unlikely it will happen anytime soon.

The trouble with this system is that the 54 letters only triggers the vote, and precludes a repeat vote for a year. Were it not for the year thing, I suspect we’d have had the 54 letters already.

 

[takno]

I think all the people, who were suggesting last week that Boris wasn't controlling the situation, owe him an apology. I can't believe he managed to keep a whopping great breach like this under wraps until now. He really might be the most accomplished liar we've ever had as prime minister. Bravo

 

[bramling]

I think all the people, who were suggesting last week that Boris wasn't controlling the situation, owe him an apology. I can't believe he managed to keep a whopping great breach like this under wraps until now. He really might be the most accomplished liar we've ever had as prime minister. Bravo

I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot of stuff which is going to come out over time. The parties are likely the tip of the iceberg, and are only being used now as they’re proving effective in capturing the mood.

 

[takno]

I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot of stuff which is going to come out over time. The parties are likely the tip of the iceberg, and are only being used now as they’re proving effective in capturing the mood.

It's difficult to believe that, knowing that this was still in the closet, he didn't resign and make a clean breast of it it at least a week ago. It was always going to come out, and it's so obviously unforgivable. It's almost laser-targetted to offend the almost-everybody who knows a child who missed out on a birthday through this.

 

[Gloster]

Could it be that they are letting things come out now in the belief that they will weather the storm, so that when we come to the local council elections or general election it will all be old news and partly forgotten. They don’t want Cummings coming out with a real show-stopper two days before the polling stations open: if they keep on
like this he won’t have anything left to reveal. Whether they are right, or whether their arrogance has led them into a state of false confidence because the anger is just too deep, even it is only simmering, is still to be seen.

 

[brad465]

I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot of stuff which is going to come out over time. The parties are likely the tip of the iceberg, and are only being used now as they’re proving effective in capturing the mood.

Arguably the claims of bullying/blackmailing and also Islamophobia by whips are an extension of the partygate row. There are also suggestions of recording evidence of the bullying existing, and if Johnson doesn't go anytime soon, those recordings could easily come out, and as this is damaging to the Tory party as a whole, not just Johnson, the sooner he departs the less damage done to the party, so it's possible the bullying claims will help force backbencher's hands.

 

[takno]

Arguably the claims of bullying/blackmailing and also Islamophobia by whips are an extension of the partygate row. There are also suggestions of recording evidence of the bullying existing, and if Johnson doesn't go anytime soon, those recordings could easily come out, and as this is damaging to the Tory party as a whole, not just Johnson, the sooner he departs the less damage done to the party, so it's possible the bullying claims will help force backbencher's hands.

At this point me and much of the public would believe it if somebody said that he'd paid a hitman to kill their dog. For himself that's less of a risk, because he's basically cancelled now. It's a dangerous place to be for his party though.

 

[Busaholic]

At this point me and much of the public would believe it if somebody said that he'd paid a hitman to kill their dog. For himself that's less of a risk, because he's basically cancelled now. It's a dangerous place to be for his party though.

Or,like Trump's vainglorious claim in 2016 which unfortunately contained more than an element of truth, he could go out and shoot someone in Whitehall and not lose popular support. That may have been true even three months ago but he's about to be cancelled in a way he never thought possible, for which I shall thank the lord.

 

[MikeWM]

I continue to find it rather interesting that all these terrible revelations emerge in such a slow-burning fashion - over 18 months since the things in question actually happened, when we didn't hear anything at all about it previously.

While these events were clearly all massive misjudgements on the part of those involved, I continue to wonder if there any relation to the fact that England at this point is considerably freer than most similar countries, and in particular that 'vaccine passports' have, very happily, had little traction here so far.

Clearly someone here has an agenda - who, and why, and what do they hope will happen if Johnson goes?

 

[DerekC]

Shouldn't we think about introducing impeachment?

I believe that impeachment (i.e. trial by Parliament) is still theoretically possible, but the last person successfully impeached was Warren Hastings in 1767, so the law books must be a bit dusty!

 

[bramling]

I continue to find it rather interesting that all these terrible revelations emerge in such a slow-burning fashion - over 18 months since the things in question actually happened, when we didn't hear anything at all about it previously.

While these events were clearly all massive misjudgements on the part of those involved, I continue to wonder if there any relation to the fact that England at this point is considerably freer than most similar countries, and in particular that 'vaccine passports' have, very happily, had little traction here so far.

Clearly someone here has an agenda - who, and why, and what do they hope will happen if Johnson goes?

There are a number of reasons why the party stuff could be a bit of a distraction.

I’ve heard it suggested that Johnson is simply highly unpopular, with elements of the left, and with those who blame him for Brexit.

There may well be an element of truth to the above, however this doesn’t really wash, as if this is the case then Johnson shouldn’t be giving them ammunition. He seems to have a disproportionately high number of enemies, and that in itself rings alarm bells.

It’s also the case that Johnson seems to be doing a pretty good job of hacking off Conservative voters too, and to be honest the whole parties thing is simply the cherry on a very big cake. There is considerable dissatisfaction with the way the government has been and is being run. He might have got away with things if it were just the parties, but I think the dissatisfaction runs far deeper than this one issue.

 

[DelayRepay]

It's almost laser-targetted to offend the almost-everybody who knows a child who missed out on a birthday through this.

For children born in the Spring, they actually missed out on two birthday parties. The problem that Boris Johnson has is that even people who could have forgiven him for breaking the rules, probably cannot forgive the way he tried to lie his way out of it. Had he apologised when the first allegation surfaced, it may have gone away. Instead he kept digging a deeper and deeper hole.

I’ve heard it suggested that Johnson is simply highly unpopular, with elements of the left, and with those who blame him for Brexit.

There may well be an element of truth to the above, however this doesn’t really wash, as if this is the case then Johnson shouldn’t be giving them ammunition. He seems to have a disproportionately high number of enemies, and that in itself rings alarm bells.

It’s also the case that Johnson seems to be doing a pretty good job of hacking off Conservative voters too, and to be honest the whole parties thing is simply the cherry on a very big cake. There is considerable dissatisfaction with the way the government has been and is being run. He might have got away with things if it were just the parties, but I think the dissatisfaction runs far deeper than this one issue.

He doesn't strike me as a typical Tory, and I am not sure that he has many true supporters in the party, other than a few crackpots. I think many of the Brexiteers supported him as a way of getting Brexit done, but the Brexit he's delivered is not what was hoped for. And anyway it's done now, so no need to keep him for that reason. This includes those Tories who never really believed in Brexit but went along with it anyway.

'Levelling up' seems more like a Labour policy and whist it will appeal to the Red Wall voters, it's not going to help in the traditional Tory seats in the Shires. At the same time, the real problems like rising cost of living will be hurting the 'new' 2019 Tory voters but this doesn't seem to be a concern to Johnson (although I am sure they will be delighted that their TV license is frozen for two years!)

Back to the topic at hand, the question now is how much of Sue Grey's report will be published. I don't think he'd get away with just publishing a brief summary, given that every time he's been asked about parties he's told people to wait for the report. Even if he does try to block publication, it is almost certain that copies will be leaked to the media.

 

[21C101]

It is fascinating that these events occured nearly two years ago yet no one thought it neccesary to leak them until Johnson finally defied the so called experts and refused to lock down a few weeks ago for a second Christmas.

I fear that for all his faults, if they do succeed in deposing him, his replacement will be far more like Jacinda Ardern in such matters, and that this is the real agenda of the leakers.

 

[westv]

So what about the funerals of people where police walked in because mourners were too close together?

Wasn't that because there were too many people rather than they were too close together? I don't recall any mention of police acting as you describe.

All think for there to have been two separate parties running late into the night the day before the funeral for the Duke
of Edinburgh was appalling.

I don't understand that point. Are you saying there shouldn't have been anything going on irrespective of covid rules? If so why? I doubt Prince Philip would have cared.

 

[takno]

I continue to find it rather interesting that all these terrible revelations emerge in such a slow-burning fashion - over 18 months since the things in question actually happened, when we didn't hear anything at all about it previously.

While these events were clearly all massive misjudgements on the part of those involved, I continue to wonder if there any relation to the fact that England at this point is considerably freer than most similar countries, and in particular that 'vaccine passports' have, very happily, had little traction here so far.

Clearly someone here has an agenda - who, and why, and what do they hope will happen if Johnson goes?

I share some of your concern that this is all a threat to the one government in Europe that's actually heading unapologetically in the right direction on vaccine passports. It seems clear though that they are doing that less through Boris's choice and more because it's expedient for him to retain party support. Ultimately even self-satisfied buffoon Jeremy Hunt would struggle to reimpose them next week, given the fact that other parts of Europe and the US are starting to follow the trend.

The reason this is being so slowly dripped out is that people have learned. He's been caught in fairly big fairly important lies before. His critics remember the Downing Street refurb, the prorogation, all the attempts to break international law. None of those stuck though. A more decent prime minister would have quit, but this chancer and his chancer wife are literally going to have to be carried out on whatever fancy sofa they had bought for their fancy flat.

The parties thing has been perfectly set as a trap for him. He self-evidently doesn't understand what he did wrong, and it's not in his nature to just come clean on anything. That means you have the opportunity to catch him in a wicked lie 3 times a week for a month. People will sit up and notice that.

 

[DerekC]

It is fascinating that these events occured nearly two years ago yet no one thought it neccesary to leak them until Johnson finally defied the so called experts and refused to lock down a few weeks ago for a second Christmas.

I fear that for all his faults, if they do succeed in deposing him, his replacement will be far more like Jacinda Ardern in such matters, and that this is the real agenda of the leakers.

Let's not turn this thread into another lockdownist-maskivist conspiracy theory echo chamber. In terms of Boris's future, he gambled three times on delaying stricter control measures. The third time it paid off and he is hoping that it will carry him through the Partygate scandal. I don't think it will, but he must also be secretly hoping that Russia invades Ukraine. The Falklands War saved Thatcher, so why shouldn't a war much closer to home save him?

 

[DelayRepay]

I share some of your concern that this is all a threat to the one government in Europe that's actually heading unapologetically in the right direction on vaccine passports. It seems clear though that they are doing that less through Boris's choice and more because it's expedient for him to retain party support. Ultimately even self-satisfied buffoon Jeremy Hunt would struggle to reimpose them next week, given the fact that other parts of Europe and the US are starting to follow the trend.

I agree with this - given the level of opposition in the Tory party to measures, as demonstrated from the way some MPs voted against parts of Plan B, I think it's unlikely anyone who is keen on passports and restrictions will make it past the first round. And I think Covid has passed now but people see some of Johnson's other measures, e.g. NI increases, as damaging to the Tory's electoral chances.

Essentially, I think they got behind Boris to deliver Brexit. He's done that, so isn't needed any more.

There is another reason I think he should go. Imagine there is some kind of national emergency, which could be another public health issue, or something else, where the Government need to give urgent instructions to the population. Nobody would pay any attention to this Government, given what's happened. Whilst I am against restrictions, I do believe that the Government needs to be able to implement them under extreme circumstances - but this Government couldn't, no matter how extreme.

 

[brad465]

The Met Police have finally said they will investigate the parties:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-60122893

Met Police to investigate Downing Street parties​

The Metropolitan Police will investigate a number of events at Downing Street and Whitehall in relation to potential breaches of Covid regulations, the force's commissioner Dame Cressida Dick announces.

This of course doesn't stop the possible outcome of them claiming no crimes were committed and dismissing everything, but to actually investigate is a start. I would have thought if the Government do have a lot of control over the Met, they might try and allow a situation where Johnson is cleared, but some of his staff face criminal punishment so it doesn't look like a complete whitewash, if an investigation concluded crimes were committed.