Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Why Boris might still survive

(Photo: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor)

Haunted. Ashen. Defeated. That’s how the PM looked in parliament this afternoon as he faced the flamethrowers of the opposition.

He began with a long apology about the May 2020 party in Downing Street which he said he had attended. And he openly acknowledged the ‘rage’ of the British public. His excuse – embarrassingly flimsy – was that he’d misunderstood the character of the get-together. And he was forced to adopt the lawyerly terms he so decries in others when he referred to the party as ‘the event in question’. So what was it? A wine-tasting? A discreet sherry at sundown? Or a major session with dancing on the tables?

That judgment will be made by Sue Gray, a Cabinet Office official appointed to investigate. Boris told every MP who called for his resignation to wait until Gray delivers her findings.

Sir Keir Starmer was brutally effective. ‘He thinks he can just ride this out?’ he said, his eyes widening like saucers in disbelief.

Boris hunkered down on the front bench like a lonely sandbag holding back a sea of hate

‘The British public know he’s lying through his teeth.’

But hang on.

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