That's what you pay for when you send your son to Eton.

They make them used to being targets of ridicule with their school uniform and of course they are taught that there is no place for shame in their world.

It is very odd that Downing St security, i.e. the police, did not hear a party. The garden backs onto Horse Guards Parade and anyone at the Kitchener statue would surely be able to hear a large gathering there.

Probably had their own do going on at the time...

It was 30-40 round the back. Probably not that much noise. Also the police security are security not police. It is not their job to stop or investigate law breaking at No 10.

My question is did Boris bring a bottle to the work meeting? If not why not? What did he drink? Did his office (us) pay for any drinks?

Of course he wouldn't bring his own. Presumably he had to WhatsApp a prominent donor for a couple of bottles of Chateau de Chassilier ;)

It was lockdown, so there would have hardly been anyone around. The biggest feature of lockdown was how quiet it was. So many people, even just chatting, would indicate there was a gathering that could not have been following the regs.

There is very good suspicion the police turned a blind eye to regulation breaking at No 10, which just adds to the corruption surrounding the present Tory government.

Reminds me of my time at college. The campus straddled the border between two towns. One town had a law against serving open alcohol and the other town had a law against coin-operated gaming machines. So the college placed its pub right on the border with a bar on one side of the room, and pinball machines on the other...:blush:

“Douglas Ross has always been quite a lightweight figure”
"I don't think he's a big figure."

Jacob Rees-Mogg's response on Newsnight to Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross calling for Boris Johnson to resign.

Wes Streeting (Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) on Newsnight
"The Prime Minister is unfit to lead, forget party politics. It's actually in our (Labour's) interests for Boris Johnson to stay on as leader at the moment, but it's not the right thing for the country for him to stay on in office."

Mike Galsworthy pointed out that Sue Gray is the Winston Wolf of Whitehall, in that she's a fixer. So I'm not expecting much in the way of scandal to come out.

It's worth reading the BBC article Mike refers to on Sue Gray
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33431580

As a taster:

That's depressing. I had foolish hopes that we might get some truth out of Gray's enquiry. Maybe it will turn out to be a scandal in itself?

All of this shows yet again that Yes, Minister/Prime Minister and The Thick Of It were actually documentaries.

And did anyone one else notice the debating society sophistry BlowJob used in not making an apology? "I want to apologise..." ,not "I apologise..." nor "I'm sorry...", but "I want to...". So he can still satisfy his puerile, point-scoring, grubby, foetid ego that he didn't actually give in and apologise.

Does he really believe that folk don't see through the manure of the bovine he spews? Why am I even asking? Most folk are happy to wallow in BlowJob's mouth spew and feel ******* grateful for it: there's no hope, is there?

FFS! She's full on Sir Humphrey there.

No wonder BlowJob picked her to "investigate", as she's all 3 monkeys rolled into one.

Nick Robinson: “Have you ever been to a work meeting where you’ve been asked to bring your own bottle?”

Brandon Lewis: “We don’t have all the facts yet.”

To try and distract us all from "Partygate" and to generate some positive headlines, the Covid isolation period has been reduced to 5 days.

Expect another Covid wave as infectious people go back to work several days too early.

And now Johnson is self-isolating for 5 days "after a member of his immediate family tested positive for Covid", it has been reported. I wonder which of them he has seen lately, apart from Carrie?

Mighty convenient, I'd say :rolleyes:

How convenient.

Watch out for any female staff in his office or Laura Kuessenberg suddenly having to self isolate.

It is also contrary to the present guidance on self-isolation

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/corona...nd-what-to-do/

"If you live with or have been in contact with someone with COVID-19, you will not need to self-isolate if any of the following apply:
you're fully vaccinated – this means 14 days have passed since your final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine"

That's one set of guidance for him and another for the rest of us!

One amusing thing about the (inadequate) 5-day period, is that it means he'd be available next Wednesday, unless he manages to report being positive for Covid himself.

Parties at Downing Street the night before Prince Philip's funeral.

This is in the Torygraph.

My mistake, it seems to be 7 days (of poor suckers having to go out and face the media music because the PM is such a miserable **** he won't do it himself).

No wonder The Sun has been quiet about it all, James Slack their Deputy Editor was involved.

From the Telegraph story.

Another event held to mark the departure of James Slack, Mr Johnson’s chief spinner, saw:

Staff gathered for a speech from Slack, with others dialling in via Zoom.

Drunk and attendees spilling into the garden.

Chatting and drinking into the early hours.

I think we all knew the writing was on the wall when they allowed Rees-Mogg back on interviews on Newsnight for the first time since he slagged off Grenfell victims so he could slag off Scottish Tories.

And it’s entirely believable that he hadn’t a scooby what was going on.

These parties are playing right into the hands of the conspiritards: "They aren't scared of the virus,it was all a scam." etc.

You KNOW they've ****** up royally when the Torygraph is reaming them out.

Given how many parties have now been discovered (and I'm sure it's just the tip of the iceberg), I'm reluctantly impressed at the fact that they've managed to keep them out of the public eye for so long. :o

Unless of course Downing Street Drinkies are such an ingrained part of the Johnson premiership that people didn't realise that there could be a problem with them. I mean if it's something that you do every day, and the police know about it but do nothing to stop it, then it's a wholly unremarkable thing that doesn't deserve public or media scrutiny. :confused:

Picking a little more at the Slack leaving do....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59989946

It seems that Downing Street have come to the conclusion that stonewalling isn't the best policy any more and to admit that the gatherings took place. Better to make the debate about the nature of the gathering rather than whether it took place at all.

I wonder why they're being less evasive ? :confused:

Ah, that explains it, he can simply blame his underlings. ;)

Of course that raises the question of whether or not Boris Johnson was getting leathered with chums at Chequers instead.

How do they know Boris wasn't there? His previous attendance or not has been nigh on impossible* to confirm until the official investigation is over. How can they quickly tell us which parties he missed but not which he attended?


*Until photos or enough eye witness accounts make continued denial implausible.

All joking aside, presumably his attendance at Chequers is a matter of public record. Of course that doesn't mean that he wasn't partying hard while he was there, just that he wasn't at James Slack's leaving do. ;)

Then again, it would be in character for him to have given Slack a leaving do so I wonder when that was. I don't think it could have been at a more damaging time than on the eve of Price Phillip's funeral - unless he was unable to take the call about Phillip's demise because he was half-cut with Jimmy Slack.

Soaring gas, oil and electricity prices are forcing millions of people in the UK into fuel poverty and the government's price has forced a number of suppliers out of business further exacerbating the situation.

One of the stated reasons for Brexit would be that we could set our own VAT rates and, for example, remove VAT on fuel. Labour introduced a bill last week to remove VAT on fuel to reduce the strain on the less well off. Predictably the government voted against it (and brayed at Labour Remoaners for trying).

Sensitive energy company E.On has had a different approach, sending out socks. :rolleyes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59995938

At least they didn't do a Ovo and suggest you hug a pet.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59963699

Of course neither of the two executives involved are short of a few bob and will likely not struggle to pay their bills.

And the hits keep on coming:

The former chief of the COVID taskforce hosted leaving drinks in the Cabinet Office in December 2020
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-60001927

Downing Street staff held 'wine-time Fridays' throughout the pandemic with Boris Johnson regularly witnessing the gatherings. The regular event was so popular that staff even invested in a drinks fridge to keep their bottles of white wine, Prosecco and beer cool.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politi...idays-25951853

And their constant excuse is that they were working hard. As if they were the only ones.

Jacob Rees-Mogg tweeted
@Jacob_Rees_Mogg
The United Kingdom is an extended family of a nation, bound together by shared blood and kinship. It has had a marvellous history for many centuries and under Boris Johnson's leadership is on the cusp of further greatness.




"Blut & Boden" - Blood & Soil used to be the saying.

And, as I recall, the same line used by the Lib Dem winner of that last bye election in her victory speech.

Bold of Priti Patel to call for greater action against foreign influence in the U.K. Parliament, when she in fact previously resigned for her back channel liaisons with a foreign government.

Esther McVey took a job with GB News last June when still a minister.
In a serious breach of the guidelines she failed to inform anti corruption watchdog Acoba. Now Acoba has announced no action will be taken.

Acoba is chaired by Tory Lord Pickles.