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Boris Johnson says sorry after report slams lockdown parties

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By JILL LAWLESS

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albaleoToday  01:57 am JST

But many are questioning why the police stepped in. (Or were they asked in?)

I'm questioning what all the police stationed in and around Downing Street were doing while all these parties were going on.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Politicians spent most of the pandemic doing things we were not allowed to. Macron turned up at the Olympics in Tokyo.

The police undermined the political force of the report by intervening. Make of that what you will.

Popular attitudes towards partygate are mixed. There were lots of restriction-breaking parties (many of the UK's newspapers held their own). Rules were often broken outside controlled areas like shops and on public transport. However, individuals did face appalling and not always necessary trauma - emotional and economic - courtesy of the restrictions. So there is some appetite for revenge.

The 'Brexit Freedoms' bill will further damage trade between the EU and the UK, the EU still being the UK's major trading partner and a primary supplier of food products. So expect more gaps on supermarket shelves as Clown Leader causes more damage. It may be wise for the Tories to prise Barnacle Boris off his rock before this bill goes through, or they will suffer the consequences of it at the ballot box. Brexit is one of those things that was only ever going to win votes before it happened. Now, it will just lose votes.

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The PM lying to Parliament, yes, that is a political matter that should get him kicked out of No 10..

But the PM partying with dozens of other people when the law said it was illegal to meet with more than one person from outside your household - that is action that carried an automatic fine, and it doesn't take a police investigation to impose a fine.

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cleo, you answered your own accusation. And it still is a civil service report on political wrongdoings. Yes it is a crime that the little people were fined and valuable police time is wasted. But it's still a civil service report because it is a prime minister lying to parliament. There lies the difference with fines on the little people - we need Sue Gray's report to kick a lying prime minister out of office.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

a civil service report on political wrongdoings

Were the hundreds of little people who had to pay fines for breaking lockdown guilty of 'political wrongdoings'? Were they given the option of a months-long police investigation? did they get to say 'Ooops, sorry' and walk away unscathed?

No. They were fined for breaking the law of the land, while the people who put the laws in place were partying like it was 1999.

There should be no need fo the Met to be involved. Bozo and his pals should just pay their fines.

Then the Met can get involved and zap him for wasting police time and public money.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

ReynardFox, you need to understand the news. The Met Police asked the civil service to remove any reference to the illegal lockdown events in Sue Gray's report to Parliament. If the Met's own investigation is so critical, why did they wait until Sue Gray's report was announced before announcing their investigation? Why did the news of Sue Gray's report have to prompt them?

More importantly, this so-called conflict of an investigation is absolute nonsense. The biggest conviction the Police can mete out from their 'investigation' is a lockdown fine. Not even a full criminal conviction in court. So why on earth would the details in Sue Gray's report cause so much friction to such a low-key fine investigation?

Or were you perhaps hoping the foxes would be allowed to investigate

Foxes? Sue Gray is a respected fully independent senior civil servant. Not a member of a political party. Our present government arranged for Sue Gray to produce her report!

And to conclude, Sue Gray, the independent senior civil servant, even mentioned in the report her frustration of not being able to report the details in full.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It was a sad day when the metropolitan police (commissioner) stepped in to a civil service report on political wrongdoings. Any country that has a police force with the power to involve itself in an independent political report is finished as a democratic nation.

I generally agree. But many are questioning why the police stepped in. (Or were they asked in?)

The majority voted for Johnson

Only 43% voted for the Conservatives but that gave them an overall majority of 75 seats. UK democracy at its two-party norm.

A couple of things not mentioned in the article... During the melee, Johnson accused Keir Starmer of being responsible for the lack of criminal action against Jimmy Saville. That was pretty low. Also, the leader of the SNP at Westminster was removed from the House of Commons for saying Johnson had "misled the house". He was asked to retract, but refused.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It was a sad day when the metropolitan police (commissioner) stepped in to a civil service report on political wrongdoings. Any country that has a police force with the power to involve itself in an independent political report is finished as a democratic nation.

The Metropolitan Police are involved because it’s not just a political scandal: it is a criminal investigation revolving around the allegation that Covid-19 lockdown protocols were violated. This puts it firmly in the realm of law enforcement to investigate. Or were you perhaps hoping the foxes would be allowed to investigate the chicken coop unmonitored?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It was a sad day when the metropolitan police (commissioner) stepped in to a civil service report on political wrongdoings. Any country that has a police force with the power to involve itself in an independent political report is finished as a democratic nation. The majority voted for Johnson and for Brexit (the immigration vote) and traditional Labour party voters switched allegiances based on personal greed so the electorate only have themselves to blame.

There is no point in anyone who voted Conservative complaining about Johnson. It was pretty clear to all voters that it would end like this. Including the Conservative party who elected him their leader.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Greased Piglet wriggles off the hook again. May he cling on and do irreparable damage to the posh boy party.

Heh, I wonder what other bombs tiny Dominic Cummings has left to drop...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

people in his government quit for MUCH LESS than that.

it's really outrageous to say the least.

if the tories have a shred of dignity they should kick him out right now.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

He has probably learned how he got caught and will take steps in the future to avoid it.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

BoJo, you have said sorry for too many times, it is getting stale.

It appears to be a rather inconsequential and superficial report of little value - sort of cover-up.

Heads wild hardly be rolled.

Therefore.. (?)

0 ( +2 / -2 )

BJ cannot wait to escape the UK for a while and take his ego flattering trip to the "Land of the Rising Sun."

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Sue Gray written statement....

"It is not possible at present to provide a meaningful report"

 "Is a result of the Metropolitan Police's investigations, and so as not to prejudice the police investigative process, they have told me that it would only be appropriate to make minimal reference to the gatherings on the dates they are investigating"

"Unfortunately, this necessarily means that I am extremely limited in what I can say about those events and it is not possible at present to provide a meaningful report setting out and analyzing the extensive factual information I have been able to gather"

This is a total waste of time, police recourses, and tax payer money.

In effect, Met police commissioner Cressida Dick is Johnson's useful idiot.

*
2 ( +3 / -1 )

Johnson is just like the former head of another country, rules dont apply to him, and when caught, throws out lies and expects everyone to agree with him.

Fortunately it seems the British people have more common sense!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Convenient that the person assigned to officially investigate the behaviour of the government cannot now publish her findings in full because the MET police have an ongoing investigation. As the MET beaver away, this furore will die down as another scandal engulfs BoJo and his merry band of chinless clowns. What are the odds then that after careful consideration, the Met will decide that their is no case to answer and conclude their investigation, and with the public's attention drawn elsewhere no one will remember that the full details of the official investigation were never disclosed to the public and Bojo and his chinless wonder friends can go back to their luncheon clubs, guffawing around the fire with brandy snifters......the ruling establishment in the UK mocks the public at every turn.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

 “failures of leadership and judgment” allowed events to occur that “should not have been allowed to take place.”

This kind of language is the usual protective coat of impersonal bureaucratic whitewash that deflects from Johnson's personal responsibility.

 “there is significant learning to be drawn from these events..."

Boilerplate pablum with no consequences for the guilty ones in high places while most of us must do our "significant learning" in prison.

“I get it, and I will fix it,” 

Sez the Boris who cried "Brexit", but will the British electorate "get" and "fix it"?

The "Establishment" is now in full "smoke 'n' mirrors" mode with the police now quietly working in the background to concoct a story to lull punters back to sleep and put the Tories' "Partygate" to bed.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Read the published report?

There are no definitive conclusions!

It is barely a diary of events.

12 pages, the costs to the tax payer rising with the hapless Met police commissioner Cressida Rose Dick intervention to close to £2 million that could eventually hand out Covid fines of £100!

This farce is going nowhere.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Read the full text of Sue Gray's report into Boris Johnson's 'Partygate'

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/31/europe/boris-johnson-party-report-sue-gray-full-text-intl-gbr/index.html

Peruse the published report. Diluted because of a criminal investigation.

Look, Johnson Government never for a moment believed or even accepted lockdown is/was the best course of action.

Political expectancy handed Covid policy to unaccountable experts.

Now, as we rotate full circle, setting a train of events in motion.

Paralyzed in government, Putin is about to pounce

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

l’m so sorry!, he said while wiping some cheese and crackers from his lips.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

“I get it, and I will fix it,”

If he got it he wouldn’t have done it, there would have been no need for an inquiry and there would be nothing to fix.

Great if everyone caught breaking the law could just say, ‘OK, sorry, won’t do it again.’

Think of the money that would be saved on running the police and the justice system. And the jails would be empty.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

But Johnson brushed off calls to quit over the “partygate” scandal, promising to reform the way his office is run and insisting that he and his government can be trusted.

“I get it, and I will fix it,” he said

nothing more reliable than when someone tells others to “trust me”

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Boorish Johnson was always going to be like this, it was just like Banksy's art, the writing was on the wall.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Monday after an inquiry found that Downing Street parties while Britain was in lockdown represented a “serious failure” to observe the standards expected of government or to heed the sacrifices made by millions of people during the pandemic.

VIPs get taken to task for their hypocrisy in endorsing strict coronavirus measures yet not observing precautions in enjoying their private lives.

But the bigger issue of politicians using insider information of coronavirus measures to profit on investments is widely overlooked.

https://www.businessinsider.com/lawmakers-bought-sold-covid-19-related-stocks-during-pandemic-2021-12

And using tax shelters not available to ordinary citizens to make their gains tax free.

These should be the focus instead of the entertaining peccadilloes of the powerful.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

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