Under-fire Boris Johnson denies lying about lockdown parties

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ASPartOfMe
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18 Jan 2022, 2:18 pm

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday denied misleading Parliament about lockdown-breaching parties, and confirmed he has given an account of events to an inquiry probing alleged violations of coronavirus rules by the government.

Senior ministers in Johnson's Conservative government said they believed him — but added the prime minister would have to resign if he is proven to have lied.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray is investigating a string of alleged rule-flouting government parties that have sparked calls for Johnson’s resignation, including a May 2020 staff party in the garden of the prime minister's Downing Street residence.

Former Johnson aide Dominic Cummings has said he is willing to “swear under oath” that the prime minister was warned in advance that the party would violate coronavirus restrictions, which at the time barred people from meeting more than one person outside their household.

Johnson told Parliament last week that he had attended the event, billed as a “bring your own booze” gathering in an invitation sent to 100 people by his principal private secretary. But he said he considered it a work gathering that fell within the rules.


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18 Jan 2022, 2:59 pm

The man is a lying idiot and the British public are not being fooled.He himself made the regulations at the time with
restrictions on social events and meeting people from other households. He's trying to make us believe that he didn't
think a Conservative Party event on his own doorstep with food,alcohol and dancing was against the rules ? He expects us to believe he thought it was 'a working event' ! Even the Queen had to follow the restrictions when being isolated at her husband's funeral on the day following one of the many parties.
To make things worse some of his allies in the government are adding insult to injury by supporting him without question.Even when the leader of the Scottish Conservatives,Douglas Ross,said he really thought the PM should resign,Jacob Rees Mogg then dismissed Ross as a 'lightweight' and in doing so added another dimension to the crisis
by fuelling the support of those who want Scotland to break away from the UK.
I fear the 'independent investigation' will not lead to Johnson's resignation as he appointed the person that's leading the investigation.


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cyberdad
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18 Jan 2022, 4:16 pm

pluto wrote:
I fear the 'independent investigation' will not lead to Johnson's resignation as he appointed the person that's leading the investigation.


Then how can an investigation be considered "independent when Johnson appointed the investigator?

In Australia we have a federal ICAC which is an independent commission against corruption. Given we largely copied your Westminister form of government I'm a little surprised the UK has no independent body free of interference to sniff out Boris's shenanigans.



pluto
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18 Jan 2022, 5:34 pm

I'm perhaps being too sceptical about Sue Gray as she may well conduct the investigation without any bias but ultimately the report of her findings has to be signed off by Boris Johnson as Prime Minister,which goes against
conflict of interest considerations.He's already planning to sack some of his staff in an attempt to divert the blame
for nobody pointing out to him that rules were being broken at events he attended. (Rules that he instigated)


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18 Jan 2022, 9:29 pm

This is bizarre to watch from over here, our politicians have been caught violating their own mandates countless times, and much more brazenly, and it hasn't gotten anyone kicked out of office yet.


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19 Jan 2022, 4:45 pm

pluto wrote:
I'm perhaps being too sceptical about Sue Gray as she may well conduct the investigation without any bias but ultimately the report of her findings has to be signed off by Boris Johnson as Prime Minister,which goes against
conflict of interest considerations.He's already planning to sack some of his staff in an attempt to divert the blame
for nobody pointing out to him that rules were being broken at events he attended. (Rules that he instigated)


Sue Gray will be unbiased. But the scope of the report itself does not stretch to finger pointing or punishment - it's just an account of what happened. Johnson can't change the contents of the report. But that job of apportioning blame and deciding what action to take will fall to...Boris Johnson. And there's the insanity of our system.

It's immaterial now. He's finished. The only question is whether Conservative MPs will push him out now, or wait until after the elections in May so he can soak up the fallout of those losses and they can start fresh.


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