Could this legal loophole save Boris Johnson?

The life-or-death question for the Prime Minister is not whether Downing Street and Cabinet Office parties were illegal and should result in criminal prosecutions. Nor is it whether all or indeed any of the parties were actually organised by him.

No. What will determine his survival is whether he has the faintest chance of persuading his MPs that he can reform the toxic party culture, rather than being part of it.

On the illegality of the assorted parties, there is a loophole – though it is unclear whether it was being exploited when the parties were happening or only as a defence after the event.

The point is that official guidelines for the conduct of essential businesses that employ key workers who cannot work from home didn’t explicitly say ‘no parties’.

That omission stems from the presumption of those who drafted the business guidelines that no boss would think parties were allowed, given that the more general national rules ­– which everyone knew – did say ‘no parties’.