Now Boris must make another admission: lockdown was a mistake

On 20 May 2020, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement on social media which summed up the conditions in the country. ‘Have you been enjoying the hottest day of the year so far?’ it asked. ‘You can relax, have a picnic, exercise or play sport, as long as you are: on your own, with people you live with or just you and one other person.’ To do otherwise, it didn’t have to say, would be a criminal offence.

In 10 Downing Street, however, Boris Johnson’s principal private secretary sent out a very different message to more than 100 staff members. ‘Make the most of the lovely weather,’ it said, and ‘bring your own booze’ for a party in the back garden. The Prime Minister has now admitted that he attended the party for 25 minutes — doing what he had instructed the police to arrest others for. His somewhat improbable excuse is he believed it to be a work meeting.

It is true that his staff had been working incredibly hard at a time of national emergency; they needed a break. So did he — Johnson had, after all, recently returned to work after nearly dying of Covid. He may even argue that his staff were seeing each other most days so it wasn’t the same as mixing with strangers. A drink in the back garden posed no conceivable risk. At the time, there was almost no Covid in London and it was by then well-established that the virus doesn’t spread much outside.

None of these excuses will hold up. The revelation of the party he hosted is politically devastating. He had not allowed others to exercise their judgment and do what he and his staff were doing. Those who fell foul of the rules outside of the No.