U.K. Politics: Boris Johnson referred to police (AGAIN) over potential Covid rule breaches

[Thriller]

I like the SNP guy who always gets up and shouts at Boris.

[Thombus]

I like the SNP guy who always gets up and shouts at Boris.

Sounds like Plym.

[Thriller]

Sounds like Plym.

Get Plym in Cabinet to snatch Boris’ wig!

[Thombus]

So we're only a few hours since that dismal apology and already the news agenda has swiftly moved over to Prince Andrew. And Nicola McLean's designer vagina.

By news, I mean The S*n.

I shouldn't read it before bedtime, I'm irritated already.

Daily Mail leading with BoJo being backed all the way, and the Mirror & Guardian practically writing his obituary.

Give it two days, it'll be literally old news like the cheese and wine party and as Thriller Mike said, forgotten by the GP in no time.

[Plym]

Get Plym in Cabinet to snatch Boris’ wig!

with pleasure

[bm08]

So we're only a few hours since that dismal apology and already the news agenda has swiftly moved over to Prince Andrew. And Nicola McLean's designer vagina.

By news, I mean The S*n.

I shouldn't read it before bedtime, I'm irritated already.

Daily Mail leading with BoJo being backed all the way, and the Mirror & Guardian practically writing his obituary.

Give it two days, it'll be literally old news like the cheese and wine party and as Thriller Mike said, forgotten by the GP in no time.

For me, it is weird that this could be the thing that leads to his ouster. I don't understand English politics.

[Thriller]

It’s always the way with the British, we don’t really care about it until it’s happening to the middle-upper class. Poverty? Meh. Racism and inequality? All lives matter. Massive austerity and NHS buggered? I’ve got my savings and private health care. They had a party in lockdown?! But I had to wave at my elderly mum through her window on her birthday, those BASTARDS!

[LittleLinda]

It’s always the way with the British, we don’t really care about it until it’s happening to the middle-upper class. Poverty? Meh. Racism and inequality? All lives matter. Massive austerity and NHS buggered? I’ve got my savings and private health care. They had a party in lockdown?! But I had to wave at my elderly mum through her window on her birthday, those BASTARDS!

That’s not just a British thing, I’m afraid…

But yeah, it is kinda pathetic.

[bm08]

MI5 has warned that a Chinese government agent has been working in parliament "to subvert the processes", MPs have been told.

A letter was sent to MPs by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle who said MI5 warned him a woman called Christine Lee has been "engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the Chinese Community Party, engaging with members here at parliament".

MI5 sent out an "interference alert" warning Ms Lee has "facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China...done covertly to mask the origins of the payments".

Christine Lee 'acted covertly in coordination with the CCP'

The security service said the Chinese lawyer has been involved with MPs and hopeful MPs as well as members of the now-disbanded all-party parliamentary group, Chinese in Britain.

In the alert, it said: "Lee has acted covertly in coordination with the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party (UFWD) and is judged to be involved in political interference activities in the UK."

Sir Lindsay told MPs if they have been approached by Ms Lee they should contact the director of security for parliament.

More: https://news.sky.com/story/mi5-has-w...-told-12515031

[stevyy]

I like about Boris that he makes other complete incompetent and dangerous politicians in other countries look like sophisticated and smart, lenient thinkers with good intentions. #Don'tLookUp

[Thombus]

Honestly, if I was a Chinese spy I'd change my name to something less obvious than Lee. FFS.

[Thombus]

Another day, another leak of further parties. Interesting seeing this on the BBC though:

One of the events on 16 April was a leaving party for the PM's then director of communications, James Slack, before he took up a new role as deputy editor of The Sun newspaper.

Obvious who is telling the media about all these events.

[bm08]

These parties are such a non-event for me that I am bewildered this continues to be a national headline for weeks.

[Artoo]

These parties are such a non-event for me that I am bewildered this continues to be a national headline for weeks.

Government employees deliberately and knowing broke legal restrictions put into place. They had a knees up whilst the country was in a period of national mourning, as the world had to watch The Queen attend her husband’s funeral alone and isolated.

There have been over 150,000 UK Covid deaths - how many people have been denied the chance to say goodbye in person? How many people died alone in hospital? How many of us were legally forbidden from seeing family members during lockdown? How many have lost their jobs because their industries were shut down? We gave up a lot because the government asked us to. Our Prime Minister came on TV repeatedly and told us to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

This government has shown nothing but contempt for this country. They have lied to us in order to achieve their goal of leaving the EU, illegally proroguing parliament in order to achieve its goal and lied to the Queen in order to do so. They have ignored the withdrawal agreement to the extent the EU has taken steps to have grievances heard in court. They then told us not to worry about covid, that the world was wrong and herd immunity was the way forward. There has been a mammoth amount of leaks to the press, lobbying issues and absolute cock ups regarding PPE, track and trace schemes and many other things.

These lockdown parties are frankly the latest in a long line of insults and something must be done - this is not how you run a country.

[bm08]

Yes and I agree all those things are despicable. This is why the idea of a party being the thing making national headlines for weeks is quite frankly silly. Those things you listed should be the story.

[Artoo]

Yes and I agree all those things are despicable. This is why the idea of a party being the thing making national headlines for weeks is quite frankly silly. Those things you listed should be the story.

They were at the time. The parties are just the latest revelation, and more keep coming to light.

[Thombus]

I think the thing that sticks the most is the deceit and the blatant lies around the events. We're all used to politicians taking the piss, but during an unprecedented period of hardship it just stings a little more.

[jordi_89]

Too bad the elections are too far away. If they kick Boris out now, they'll probably have recovered by then by acting like *they fixed things*.

[heppolo]

Operation Save Big Dog?
Damn, Boris needs to go back to being a buffoon on Have I Got News For You, he peaked there.

[heppolo]

Too bad the elections are too far away. If they kick Boris out now, they'll probably have recovered by then by acting like *they fixed things*.

Can they bring back Theresa again just for laughs?

[Artoo]

I think the thing that sticks the most is the deceit and the blatant lies around the events. We're all used to politicians taking the piss, but during an unprecedented period of hardship it just stings a little more.

This is the bit I never understand - how and why did we become complacent with this? I’ve never understood it.

Politics needs to be reformed - I was reading just this afternoon about how most PM’s don’t even stick around for the parliamentary debate, but pop to a bar then return when it’s time to vote.

I honestly don’t know why we don’t just vote once a year. I get the argument that a government needs time to get laws and schemes put in place etc, but a government doing a good job should not expect to lose an election - the electorate should only change their vote year on year if the local MP wasn’t living up to expectations.

[Thombus]

This is the bit I never understand - how and why did we become complacent with this? I’ve never understood it.

Politics needs to be reformed - I was reading just this afternoon about how most PM’s don’t even stick around for the parliamentary debate, but pop to a bar then return when it’s time to vote.

I honestly don’t know why we don’t just vote once a year. I get the argument that a government needs time to get laws and schemes put in place etc, but a government doing a good job should not expect to lose an election - the electorate should only change their vote year on year if the local MP wasn’t living up to expectations.

Completely agree. The rest of us have to have probationary periods at work to demonstrate we're capable, so something similar should be in place for arguably the biggest role in the UK.

[heppolo]

Operation Save Big Dog continues to be the real-life The Thick Of It.

[Wayne]

‘Operation Save Big Dog’: who is in the line of fire at No 10?

Analysis: Many Tories think Boris Johnson should go, but he is expected to try to cling on by having others take the fall

The publication of the Sue Gray report into “partygate” is expected to be followed by a clearout of some key officials from Downing Street, a plan reportedly referred to by the prime minister as “Operation Save Big Dog”.

Oliver Dowden, the Conservative party co-chair, in effect confirmed this on Sunday when he said there was a need for a “change of culture” in the building.

Many Tory MPs believe Boris Johnson himself is the person who most needs to go, but he hopes that if others take the blame he might be able to draw a line under the affair. Here are some of the officials most at risk.

Martin Reynolds
As Johnson’s principal private secretary (PPS), Reynolds is the civil servant with most influence over the prime minister’s day-to-day decision-making. (It’s the Bernard role from Yes Minister.) A career Foreign Office official, Reynolds did the same job for Johnson when he was foreign secretary before becoming ambassador to Libya. He is in the line of fire particularly for sending the email inviting staff to the “BYOB” party in the No 10 garden on 20 May 2020.

Stuart Glassborow
A former Treasury official who serves as deputy PPS, Glassborow is also in line to leave alongside Reynolds, according to some reports, as part of a planned overhaul of the private office.

Dan Rosenfield
A former PPS at the Treasury, who worked for Alistair Darling and George Osborne, Rosenfield left the civil service for investment banking but was lured back to Downing Street in late 2020 to be chief of staff, filling the gap left by the departure of Dominic Cummings and Eddie Lister. Since then, he has been the subject of negative briefing from colleagues who find his manner imperious, and he has failed to curb Johnson’s chaotic tendencies. He is blamed for approving the claim that no parties were held at No 10.

Jack Doyle
A former Daily Mail journalist, Doyle started working for Johnson in Downing Street in 2020 and he took over as director of communications last year, following the departure of Lee Cain and then James Slack. Many of the reports about the drinking culture at No 10 have centred on the press office, where a wine cooler was reportedly installed to facilitate “wine-time Fridays”, and last month it was claimed Doyle had offered to resign after ITV revealed he had given a speech at a lockdown-busting Christmas party on 18 December 2020. At the time, No 10 said the prime minister still had full confidence in Doyle.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...nson-partygate

[Artoo]

Well the first shot has been fired and the first casualty is the BBC. Not that I think the licence fee will be abolished, but it creates a couple of positive headlines for the government.