In many ways, it has been absurd to have police spend months (and £460,000) investigating birthday cakes, glasses of wine and garden parties. Lord Finkelstein, the Tory peer and commentator at the Times, has come out against it (‘Playing politics is no business of the police’) and the front page of yesterday’s Daily Mail lambasts the cost. I respectfully disagree. If partygate focuses political minds on the wisdom of lockdown rules, it’s well worth it. Keir Starmer and Danny Finkelstein both voted for Boris Johnson’s lockdown laws. If they now find the laws objectionable if used to investigate past offences by politicians: good. That ought to provide cause for reflection as to whether lockdowns were right in the first place – and whether they should ever be repeated.
The partygate investigation has powerfully showcased the absurdity of the draconian, deeply damaging and probably needless laws imposed on the country. Who was there when the cake was sliced? Was the wine opened in a work way, or a party way? Did Keir work after his beer? But the police were ordered, by these parliamentarians, to subject the public to this absurd inquisition – for visiting relatives, talking to friends, being homeless, even organising (and abandoning) a snowball fight.
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