Keir Starmer, aided and abetted by Boris Johnson’s many internal enemies within the Conservative party, has managed to get into the public consciousness the idea that if Boris Johnson attended a ‘party’ during lockdown, he should resign.
There are a number of good reasons that the Tory party might feel it was time for a new leader, but the notion that attending an at-best semi-licit drinks event in one’s own back garden counts as a grounds to remove a prime minister seems to me to be wildly disproportionate.
People say: ‘Those that make laws should not break them.’ And, of course, that it correct. But it doesn’t follow that any PM that broke a law ought to resign because of it. We need to distinguish between the idea that something is wrong and that something requires a resignation.
Boris Johnson’s personal morality is highly questionable, but on policy questions he frequently gets the big calls right
Violating lockdown rules in May 2020 was a matter many people were fined over.
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