“I thought it was a work event…”

Boris Johnson – Prime Minister’s Questions – 12th May 2022

“The Prime Minister did not spot that he was at a social event. That is the excuse, isn’t it? Come off it. How stupid does he think the British people are? The worst of it is that he has already managed to completely destroy Allegra Stratton’s career and tarnished the reputation of Lord Geidt, and now he is making a fool of every single MP who cheered him earlier and everyone who goes on the radio and television to defend this shower of shenanigans. Would it not be absolutely despicable if, in the search for a scapegoat, some junior member of staff ends up losing their job, but he kept his?”

 

Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda

“Hi all, after what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in No 10 garden this evening. Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze!”

Martin Reynolds, Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister

Chris Bryant really nailed the PM at PMQs on Wednesday, more effectively even than Keir Starmer managed. But the issue of the e-mail is also spectacularly damning. Johnson claims not to have received the email, which begs the question, ‘Who gets an invitation to a party in their own garden?’ The PM either organised the party or gave explicit permission for it. Johnson is really stretching the credulity of Parliament, of his own party, and of the country by insisting on pursuing this rather timorous tactic of hiding, not in a fridge this time, or from that scary Andrew Neil, but behind an inquiry led by a civil servant.

As is now tradition, social media has been having a fine time with the PM, with “I thought it was a work event…” being applied to all manner of images and moments and comic situations.

The UK speaks its mind…

While the PM likes noting the lawyerly mannerisms of the Leader of the Opposition, he is attempting the same kind of linguistic/legalistic tightrope-walk that was exhibited to its extremes in Dominic Cummings speech in that very same garden, back on 25th May 2020, not 5 days after Johnson’s historic party. A lot appears to ride on Sue Gray, who is either a bastion of good practice or a notorious quasher of Freedom of Information requests, depending on who you listen to.

In addition, the indefatigable Good Law Project have launched legal proceedings against the Met for their failure to investigate other parties which came to light late last year. The police may now be forced to investigate No.10 in the same way that they investigated ordinary people during the lockdown, issuing warnings, threats and fines to would-be partiers as well as dog-walkers, joggers, shoppers and the rest. One law for them and another for us? Let’s see how far the authorities are prepared to go in trying to dispel this all-too-common accusation.

As we have mentioned here before, Johnson’s hold on power remains bolstered by the dearth of talent beneath him and the lack of a unifying candidate as successor; according to one former minister, ‘I am very angry at Boris but if the answer is Liz Truss, I will keep him in position.’ Makes sense. Of course, this is the kind of thing that one notices in weak democracies and worse; once the best people have been discouraged, sidelined, ignored, passed-over, purged, otherwise expunged or resigned (or, importantly, never joined in the first place), you are left with a crop of pretenders so ill-equipped and lacking in ability, credibility or nous that the incumbent remains in place well beyond their sell-by date.

Could this be the beginning of the end for Johnson? After 150,000 dead, billions wasted, an economy trashed, the pound floundering, inflation rising, costs sky-rocketing and international relations at their lowest ebb in decades, could the PM be done for by a garden party? Well, let’s not forget that, in the end, they got Al Capone, famously, on tax evasion, and not, famously, for murder.

As standards in public life continue to collapse, we at Renew will continue to stand up for our beliefs, for reform, fairness and participation, we will continue to call out the Government, to work for greater transparency, cleaning up our politics, modernising our democracy and standing up to be a part of what comes next.