Boris johnson

Friday

Steerpike

Boris’s curious Covid rules approach

It seems that Boris Johnson has adopted something of a curious approach to Covid regulations. No, not the Downing Street parties, but rather his attitude towards self-isolation. For the PM’s official spokesman revealed yesterday that one of Johnson’s relatives — either his wife Carrie or one of the children he has living at Downing Street — has tested positive for Covid, meaning that he will not be making any appearances until next week. The embattled Tory leader will instead remain in No. 10 as he fights to save his crumbling premiership, conducting mainly virtual meetings until next Wednesday. His spokesperson told lobby hacks that: In line with the guidance, he’s reducing contacts, he’ll be working from No. 10, doing the

Steerpike Steerpike

Full list of Downing Street parties

So, how many is that now? ITV have just revealed that Boris Johnson had a 56th birthday bash in the middle of the first lockdown — the latest in a list of illicit parties that have come to light over the past two months. By Steerpike’s count there have been reports of at least *sixteen* parties which allegedly broke Covid restrictions as they changed repeatedly throughout the pandemic. Most of these gatherings were held in No. 10 Downing Street but other Whitehall departments also got in on the act. Below is a timeline of all the alleged soirees, shindigs and not-so-socially distanced jamborees held in SW1 over the past two years… 15 May 2020:  An image was published

Thursday

James Forsyth

Do the Tory whips have Boris’s back?

Whips are made for leadership crises. They are a party leader’s early warning system; they can sniff out plots before they get going. So it is, as I report in this week’s magazine, far from ideal for Boris Johnson that relations between him and the whips office remain strained. The problem dates back to the Owen Paterson affair. The whips were furious that their chief, Mark Spencer, received so much of the blame when they felt he was just following orders from No. 10. The result, one Johnson ministerial loyalist complains, is that ‘the whips’ office are on a go-slow’. When Labour went on the attack with an urgent question on Tuesday,

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Split loyalties for Scottish Tories

You have to feel for the Scottish Conservatives. The current No. 10 dramas have placed them all in an invidious position, following Douglas Ross’s call yesterday for Boris Johnson to resign over partygate. Ross of course is the Scottish Conservative leader, with seats in the parliaments of both Westminster and Scotland. This means that every Tory north of the border now faces a difficult question: which leader do you agree with? Nearly all of Ross’s colleagues at Holyrood agree that Johnson needs to go, with 27 of the 31 (including Ross himself) demanding the PM resign. The four exceptions are Pam Gosal, Dean Lockhart, Oliver Mundell and Graham Simpson, who have thus far refused

Katy Balls Katy Balls

After Boris, who?

Even Boris Johnson’s longest-standing supporters now think he might be on the way out. His admission that he attended a Downing Street garden party when the rest of the country was living under strict Covid rules has proved the final straw for politicians ground down by months of negative headlines. MPs complain they’ve had enough, and don’t think he can recover. But there are two outstanding questions that are much harder to answer: when does he go? And who exactly should replace him? Until now, ministers had been talking up the May local elections as the crunch point. If it was a disaster for the Conservatives then a confidence vote could

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

The truth about that No. 10 party

People seem surprised and a little doubting that the Prime Minister is incapable of remembering if he attended a party in his own back garden in May 2020. It does not come as much of a shock to me, seeing as he has difficulty remembering how many children he has. Beneath that albino mop resides a brain comprising plasma in a perpetual turbulent flux, like you get in one of those tokamaks used in the pursuit of nuclear fusion energy. Except Boris’s brain does not have the correct-strength magnets to hold it all in place, just a skull. As a consequence he possesses no judgment and nothing in the way

The Spectator

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

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Is partygate a Remainer plot?

The mood in Westminster this morning is febrile as Tory MPs plot to consider their leader’s future. Facing questions over partygate, plunging polls and mutinous ministers, can anything save Boris Johnson? Well, yes, but perhaps salvation comes in an unlikely form. For in another typically brilliant intervention, Lord Adonis — Britain’s most ironically titled peer — has reminded Boris-doubters what they stand to lose if they eject him by suggesting ‘If Boris goes, Brexit goes’ too. The ardent Remainiac appears to have said the quiet part out loud in articulating the feelings of many Johnsonite critics. Across the Labour party, the wider liberal establishment and indeed in the civil service itself, many are silently hoping that partygate could be the moment they finally get rid

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Cabinet’s half-hearted backing for Boris

In this age of social media, it’s live by the tweet and die by the tweet. And when a Tory PM is in peril, such shenanigans take on an importance of semi-constitutional significance as ministers rush (or hesitate) to signal their allegiances. The most ominous sign for Boris Johnson yesterday was how quiet his Cabinet colleagues were after his dreadful PMQs battering.  The session concluded shortly after 12:30 p.m but it was nearly two-and-a-half hours before the first minister declared their support. The social media silence was in stark contrast to Barnard Castle 18 months ago when minister after minister threw themselves over the top to defend Dominic Cummings. Eventually,

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Rees-Mogg does his bit for the Union

You know it’s bad when Rees-Mogg does the media round. Ever since his disastrous interview on Grenfell in the 2019 election, Tory party managers have been keen to keep the Old Etonian’s performances on national television to a minimum. But given both the dire straits in which Boris now finds himself and the half-hearted backing of his cabinet, it was cometh the hour, cometh the Mogg. And the leader of the Commons certainly brought the House down.  First Mogg went on LBC to dismiss those calling for Johnson to quit, claiming ‘The people who have come out so far are people like Roger Gale and Douglas Ross who never supported the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The jury’s still out for Boris Johnson among MPs

When Michael Gove addressed Tory MPs on Wednesday evening at a meeting of the 1922 committee, he began with a tribute to Boris Johnson. After a rocky few days for the Prime Minister in which he has apologised to the House for attending a drinks party in the Downing Street garden during lockdown and faced calls from his own side to resign, Gove took the opportunity to remind MPs of Johnson’s selling points. The levelling up secretary told MPs that their leader ‘gets the big calls right’ citing Brexit, vaccines and Johnson’s recent decision not to bring in extra Covid restrictions over Christmas. Given that Gove was one of the ministers calling for

Elizabeth East

The art of the non-apology

‘Johnson apologises for lockdown garden party’ announced the Times on Wednesday. But did he? It’s quite a skill, the non-apology, and our Prime Minister is a non-apologiser par excellence, the Nureyev of not really meaning it. Academics working in conflict resolution have analysed what makes a good apology and come up with six elements: expressing regret, explaining what went wrong, acknowledging responsibility, declaring repentance, offering repair and requesting forgiveness. In response, I offer you here six ways to make sure your apology is as empty of content as a wine bottle after a Downing Street garden party: Make it conditional Or what the comedian Harry Shearer calls an ‘Ifpology’ (as

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

Why Boris might still survive

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?

Steerpike Steerpike

Peter Bone’s sly pop at Boris

Peter Bone was up at PMQs today, asking a rare, non-partygate question to our beleaguered Prime Minister on whether he’d abolish the BBC licence fee (answer: no). But not all the Wellingborough backbencher’s maneuverings in Parliament this week seem designed to be so helpful to Boris, as he battles to save his premiership. For Mr S has spotted that Bone has a Private Members’ Bill up in the House of Commons on Friday on… how to replace an incapacitated Prime Minister. As speculation heats up over who could and should replace Johnson, Bone’s timely move seeks to tidy up the question of succession to the post of First Lord of the Treasury. His Bill, which

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Watch: Starmer calls for Johnson to resign

It’s unfortunate for Boris Johnson that one of his worst appearances at PMQs has coincided with one of Keir Starmer’s best. The Leader of the Opposition has clearly had his cornflakes today as he tore into the shambling PM and did what many of his party have been wanting for months: calling on Johnson to resign.  The embattled premier was initially somewhat helped by Lindsay Hoyle’s intervention to call for order but Starmer doubled down in his supplementary questions. He referenced the resignations of Matt Hancock and Allegra Stratton and noted Johnson said the former was ‘right to resign’ for breaking Covid restrictions. Sir Keir also cited one particularly moving case of a lady

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Boris apologises for No. 10 party

It’s probably the most difficult PMQs he’ll ever have to face. Boris Johnson is on the back foot today over reports on a garden party which went on in No. 10 in May 2020. Just before he faced questions from MPs, Johnson took the opportunity to finally apologise to the House and to the country, telling them ‘I know the rage’ the public ‘feel towards me’ and saying ‘I must take responsibility. No. 10 is a big department with the garden as an extension of the office’ but ‘I believed implicitly this was a work event. Will that be enough? Here’s the full text of what Boris had to say: ‘I want to

Steerpike Steerpike

Party-planners troll No. 10

Westminster’s finest are gathering today ahead of Boris Johnson’s much-awaited appearance at Prime Ministers’ Questions. The embattled premier is expected to be grilled shortly in the Commons about the garden party which took place in No. 10 in May 2020, following a morning media round blackout by the government in recent days. Yet while the House should be full today, government whips should not expect many of those on the Tory benches to be there in support. Some tell Mr S they are just there to watch the blood sport, putting in prayer cards to witness the unfolding drama in Parliament. Far more telling than the attendance rate is the number of Tories willing to put

James Forsyth James Forsyth

It’s getting worse for Boris

Talking to Tory MPs this morning, it is clear that the mood today is even worse than yesterday. Even one of those MPs closest to Boris Johnson thinks that it is now 50/50 whether enough letters go in to force a no confidence vote. Ironically, the improving Covid numbers are changing the calculus for some Tory MPs about a contest. A few weeks ago, even the most ardent Boris critics didn’t think you could have a no confidence vote, given the situation with the soaring Omicron variant. But now it is somewhat in retreat, and that restrictions are likely to go on 26 January giving hostile MPs the chance to do so. PMQs today

Tuesday

Katy Balls

Boris Johnson is running out of road

There has been no good news for Boris Johnson today. After an email leaked on Monday evening showing that the Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds invited over 100 staff to a drinks party in the No. 10 garden in May 2020, the Prime Minister has come under fire from his own side. Downing Street has refused to deny reports that both Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie were present at the event. Instead, all No. 10 will say is that Sue Gray’s inquiry into alleged Covid rule breaking at various Downing Street parties is ongoing.  The atmosphere in the Commons has been notably muted. The Tory benches were rather quiet when

Steerpike Steerpike

Seven times No. 10 denied breaking Covid rules

Oh dear. It seems the great government post-Christmas reset isn’t going all too well after last night’s revelation that Downing Street staff were invited to a drinks party in the No. 10 garden during the first national lockdown. Martin Reynolds, the PM’s Principal Private Secretary, sent an email on 20 May 2020 to more than 100 people asking them to come and ‘make the most of the lovely weather’ and to ‘bring your own booze!’ Not Sir Humphrey’s finest hour… Boris and Carrie Johnson are alleged to have attended the garden party too, which, er, makes something of a mockery of the Prime Minister’s insistent denials that he knew of no such parties being held throughout the pandemic. Steerpike has rounded up just