Boris Johnson broke ministerial code on by-election trip – because he can?
He loves it: the overgrown schoolboy that some of us put in charge of the country thinks it’s a terrific wheeze that he can flout the rules in our faces and get away with it.
This is typical of Boris Johnson and his government.
They deliberately break the rules by which we all have to live, just to show us that they can.
If Boris Johnson wrongly used public funds to make a party political visit to Hartlepool ahead of this year’s by-election there, it wasn’t an accident.
Of course, a row has sprung up after the Conservative Party’s spending return did not include the cost of the trip – which was by private jet, let’s all remember:
It’s not just using taxpayers’ money for a campaign trip.
It’s not just breaking the ministerial code.
It’s that the host of the COP26 climate conference takes a plane to Hartlepool, just as he took one to Cornwall for the G7
He is the very worst person https://t.co/UAbxaSxbsu
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) August 23, 2021
Johnson flew by private jet from London Stansted to Teesside International Airport, travelling in a motorcade to Middlesbrough, where he conducted official government business promoting a rise in the minimum wage at the DIY store B&Q.
He was then driven to Hartlepool, where he met with the Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer for a visit to the local company Hart Biologicals, supporting her campaign in the constituency.
The pair then visited a nearby housing estate for doorknocking, leafleting, and speaking to residents, the Hartlepool Mail reported.
That afternoon, Johnson flew back from Teesside International Airport to Stansted.
None of the costs of Johnson’s travel by plane or car appear to be included in the spending return, which says the candidate spent nothing on transport.
The Labour Party has demanded an inquiry into the breach of spending rules, which is also a breach of the Ministerial Code (government ministers must not use public money for party political business).
This Writer doesn’t understand why she didn’t take it straight to the police – unless this is tacit acknowledgement that MPs are above the law and the police simply wouldn’t lift a finger.
I wonder also why the Electoral Commission has not become involved, as election spending is a matter for that organisation and failure to declare it properly is also a criminal offence.
Perhaps this is a reason Labour is going so easy on the matter:
https://twitter.com/David__Osland/status/1429851058566795273
That Jeremy Corbyn. How dare he show everybody else up by being honest!
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