Monthly Archives: January 2022

Even the limited #SueGrayReport should sink #BorisJohnson

Still laughing at us: Boris Johnson mocked attempts to hold him to account at Prime Minister’s Questions and he did the same in his statement on Sue Gray’s interim report – this time hiding behind the fact that he is being investigated by the police for criminal offences.

Cabinet Office civil servant Sue Gray has published an update on her investigation into lockdown-busting parties at Downing Street – not the report of her inquiry – and it should still be enough to end Boris Johnson’s time as the UK’s worst-ever prime minister.

The update states that Ms Gray was asked to investigate 16 “gatherings” at 10 Downing Street or in its gardens, between May 2020 and April 2021, but she is unable to report in any meaningful way on her conclusions.

This is because the police are now investigating potential criminal offences that may have been committed as a result of 12 of those gatherings having taken place.

These include a birthday party for Johnson himself in the Cabinet Room on June 19, 2020.

They also include a so-called “Abba” party in the flat at 11 Downing Street that is inhabited by Johnson and his wife on November 13, 2020.

So the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is being investigated by the police for criminal offences. That alone should be enough to see him off.

Johnson is on the record, in Parliament, as having said he was unaware of any gatherings having taken place at all.

But he was present at his own birthday event (obviously) and in refusing to say he was not at the Downing Street flat on November 13, 2020, it may be inferred that he was tacitly admitting that he was there.

It seems clear that he has lied brazenly to Parliament and to the public about these insults to the people of the UK who were making huge sacrifices while he whooped it up at our expense.

But when he traipsed into the House of Commons and made his (lawyer-drafted?) statement, Johnson merely trotted out that tired old lie that the government would “learn the lessons” and said he’d create a new “Office of the Prime Minister”, as if that would end the corruption that oozes out of him wherever he goes.

And when the SNP’s Ian Blackford – correctly – accused him of lying and misleading Parliament, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle ordered the Scottish Nationalist out of the chamber.

But it seems clear that members of his own party know that Johnson’s time is up.

Former PM Theresa May made very good points:

And former Cabinet Minister Andrew Mitchell stood up to announce that Johnson has lost his confidence.

How many other Tories are thinking the same thing, even if they aren’t saying it?

It’s time to get those “no confidence” letters flowing in to Graham Brady.

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Government set to #uturn over mandatory #NHSvaccinations

Hospital ward: how many NHS staff would Sajid Javid have lost if he continued with his plan for mandatory vaccinations?

Boris Johnson’s Tory government is rubbish at brinkmanship, isn’t it?

It’s good at bullying: where they have all the power, Johnson’s mob run roughshod over the plebs every time.

But look at this climbdown. Only a few weeks ago, Sajid Javid was rattling the sabre hard, saying NHS staff must get the Covid-19 vaccinations or lose their jobs.

Now he’s climbing down fast because the number of staff members refusing to have the injections forced on them (which is, let’s remember, a human rights violation) would cause a staffing crisis in the NHS.

This is not about people being anti-vaxxers, mind: there may be many good reasons for staff to refuse the injection and it would be wrong to infer a reason that may trigger unfair prejudice against doctors, nurses and support staff.

Javid is saying he’s relenting because the Omicron variant, now the dominant form of Covid-19 in the UK, is both milder than Delta and receding, but we all know that’s just an excuse.

The evidence shows that the bullies had to back down because they had painted themselves into a corner.

Downing Street appears likely to drop its policy of dismissing frontline NHS and care staff in England who refuse Covid vaccinations, a minister has strongly indicated, after nursing and care organisations called for this to happen.

Source: No 10 set for U-turn over mandatory Covid jabs for NHS staff in England | Vaccines and immunisation | The Guardian

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#SueGray hands over #Partygate report to Downing Street. But has she edited it?

Duper’s delight: This is the smile Boris Johnson wears when he is lying. Was he wearing it in Parliament when he deflected calls for an inquiry into his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic?


The BBC is reporting that Cabinet Office civil servant Sue Gray has provided a report to Downing Street on her inquiry into lockdown-busting parties at Number 10 – but is it the inquiry report itself, or just an update?

If it is the inquiry’s report, the next question is whether it will be a full report, after the Metropolitan Police demanded that information on more serious offences that could have taken place should be removed to avoid prejudicing its officers’ investigations of them.

(Senior UK lawyers have said this is nonsense and her report cannot possibly prejudice a police inquiry, especially when one remembers that the offences concerned carry a penalty equivalent, in their words, to a parking fine.)

If the report does contain redactions in line with the Met’s demands, Boris Johnson is still not out of the woods, though.

Within police restrictions, it may still state whether parties took place, and it may still form a conclusion as to whether Johnson knew about them at the time. If he did, then he has since lied to Parliament and to the public about them – and should resign.

The problem with this, of course, is the same problem with the inquiry that has always existed: such an offence would be a breach of the Ministerial Code – but Johnson himself is the final arbiter of whether such a breach has taken place.

He may simply choose to excuse himself, as he excused Priti Patel when an inquiry found that she had bullied civil servants in the three government departments where she has worked.

That would be an extreme example of corruption at the heart of government, of course.

But would you put it past him?

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If this is true, why are we sending a known security risk to negotiate with the Russian premier?

Boris Johnson: he’s wondering what he did with those pretty pink ‘Top Secret’ documents. He knows he had them out, but then everybody came round to the flat for some drinkies and now… (possibly).

Apparently Boris Johnson is hoping to salvage his reputation by trying to be the peacemaker between Russia and Ukraine.

He’s going to call Russian President Vladimir Putin, then visit the disputed region over the next few days, according to the mass media (this is from Sky News).

Some are saying this is an attempt to escape the stigma of Partygate and its allegations of irresponsible behaviour in Downing Street.

But Partygate is casting a very long shadow, it seems. Consider the following thread from Tim Shipman of The Times:

If this is right, then we’re sending, as negotiator, a man who habitually leaves the UK’s most important secrets lying around in full view of his wife’s friends and anybody else who happens to be around at the time.

For this reason (among many others, but this alone should be enough) I think Clare Hepworth is right to address Johnson as follows:

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#BloodySunday hypocrisy by UK politicians who want murderers to go unpunished

Yesterday – January 30, 2022 – the UK commemorated the deaths of 13 people who were murdered by UK soldiers during a civil rights demonstration on what became known as Bloody Sunday.

But This Writer doubts the sincerity of some of those who have mouthed tributes – like Boris Johnson and his Labour Party counterpart, Keir Starmer.

Here’s the reason:

Agreed?

One of those who has consistently been on the right side of history in this respect is Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who would never have allowed the Tory amnesty Bill to go unopposed.

Here he is, speaking against it at a 50th anniversary commemoration event:

Shockingly, Mr Corbyn has been attacked by zealots who appear to be selective in their reading of history; they say he is choosing only to attack atrocities by supporters of the Union while supporting those of the nationalists.

This whataboutery is simply untrue. He has deplored all acts of violence – by both sides. As a pacifist, that is his position.

And we would not have had the lasting peace in Northern Ireland since 1998 without the work he did keeping lines of communication open between all political sides in the Troubles. Meanwhile, successive Tory governments were talking with terrorists, lying about it to the public, and getting nowhere.

But Mr Corbyn, who worked hard for peace and justice, is demonised while Johnson and Starmer’s desire for murderers to go unpunished goes unmentioned by the media.

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Ridicule meets #MetPolice interference in #SueGray’s #Partygate report

Chums: Boris Johnson and Cressida Dick went to the same Oxford college.

Cabinet Office civil servant Sue Gray is expected to publish her report into alleged lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street early in the week (if not immediately).

But there are fears that important details will be redacted after the Metropolitan Police intervened to say that, as they are now investigating possible crimes, they want information about the most serious allegations to be removed.

(These “most serious allegations” are those that carry penalties equivalent to parking fines, according to the UK’s top lawyers, remember.)

Here’s what the people of the UK think about that:

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#GaryNeville upsets the tossers

Gary Neville: he shot to prominence as a political pundit when he criticised Boris Johnson’s government during the commentary on a Euro 2020 football match.

Former England football star Gary Neville has been subjected to a dogpile on Twitter after he blasted Boris Johnson’s leadership.

In a series of tweets commenting on the Partygate scandal and the way institutions including the Metropolitan Police seem to be trying to defend him, Neville accused Johnson of reducing the UK to a new low point:

This seems to have upset supporters of Johnson (yes, it seems they do still exist), who started posting hate about him under the hashtag #GaryNevilleIsATosser.

It has backfired on them – badly.

Supporters of Mr Neville (and/or opponents of Johnson) realised what was happening and leapt to defend the former Manchester United player. And their comments were searing:

It’s a lesson for the hard-right headbangers: your knee-jerk disparagement of anyone who disagrees with you doesn’t impress anybody.

Gary Neville impresses them, though. And here’s the reason:

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#Partygate: There’s no reason for Sue Gray to edit her report – says ex-Met Superintendant

Sue Gray: it seems there is no material reason for her to delay, edit or redact her report, just because the Met Police has asked her to.

Dal Babu ought to know whether a Cabinet Office report will prejudice a Metropolitan Police inquiry – he used to be a superintendant there.

And he’s “confused” about why the Met, under its Commissioner Cressida Dick (who, like Boris Johnson, was formerly a student at Balliol College, Oxford), has asked Sue Gray to edit her Cabinet Office report to avoid prejudicing a Met inquiry.

It beats This Writer, too.

Like most of us, Mr Babu reckons a criminal inquiry should have been launched long before last week, and wonders why the Met only announced that it would carry one out after Sue Gray had done all the hard work and handed over her evidence of potential criminal offences.

After wasting many weeks doing nothing, then taking delivery of the evidence from Ms Gray, the Met then demanded that her report should make “minimal reference” to the Downing Street events it is now investigating.

Mr Babu told ITV News – well, see/hear it for yourself:

The Met’s demand also seems to lack any legal weight, according to some of the most senior lawyers in the UK:

Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions (DPP), said the move seems “disproportionate” in the face of “very powerful” public interest in the report’s swift publication, unless there is “more serious conduct” being investigated.(1)

It turns out he had a lot more to say than that:

Lord Macdonald told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “The risk of the police intervention this morning is that this leaves things hanging in the air for weeks and months, and that seems obviously not to be in the public interest.

“If we’re talking about fixed penalty notices – like parking tickets, essentially – if we’re talking about that kind of resolution, then to take the rather grave step to delay a report that is going to shed public light on the subject matter of what may be a major public scandal, I think that is undesirable and I think it may be a misjudgment.

“If we are simply talking about lockdown breaches and fixed penalty notices, this move by the police this morning seems to be disproportionate.”(2)

Then there’s this:

Nazir Afzal, a former chief Crown prosecutor for the North West, said on Twitter: “This is absolute nonsense from the Met Police.

“A purely factual report by Sue Gray cannot possibly prejudice a police investigation.

“They just have to follow the evidence, of which the report will be a part.”(2)

And this:

The anonymous lawyer and author known as The Secret Barrister then added: “I am a criminal lawyer, and I too must be missing something, because there is no reason I can see as to why an independent police criminal investigation would in any way be influenced by, or would seek to influence, a civil service report.”(2)

In balance, former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent and counter-terrorism national coordinator Nick Aldworth said the report could prejudice the police investigation “by disclosing the evidence that they will gather and thereby giving the potential defendants an opportunity to conceal or alter evidence”.

How can they conceal evidence that has already been handed to the police by Sue Gray? This is about matters for which the punishment is “like parking tickets” remember – not terrorism.

Barrister John Goss added: “If the report contains information which is not known to the suspects/witnesses and which the police want to ask them about to see their response, or to see whether responses of multiple suspects/witnesses are consistent. Not unusual.”(2)

Not necessary, either, on a question of whether a person was at a party or not, for which photographic evidence is believed to exist, and for which the penalty is “like parking tickets”

The BBC is now reporting that Ms Gray isn’t going to wait for the Met to finish whatever it is doing and will deliver her report – which may be edited or redacted – whenever she feels like it.

But to the frustration of millions of people up and down the UK, it seems she doesn’t feel like it yet.

Source: (1) Ex-Metropolitan Police chief ‘confused’ why force wants Sue Gray to omit details from her report | ITV News

(2) ‘Absolute nonsense’: Lawyers question Met’s call to water down report into Downing St parties

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#JoeLycett’s spoof #SueGray #Partygate report panics the government #ItsAllSueGravyBaby

Joe Lycett: he feels “fantastic” to have caused “chaos” and “mayhem” in the government with his spoof Sue Gray report – and so he should.

If a spoof version of Sue Gray’s report into the many Downing Street parties that happened during Covid-19 lockdown can terrify the Tory government, what will the real one do?

Comedian Joe Lycett isn’t normally considered political, or a satirist, and it seems he was just having a bit of fun when he tweeted this:

It states (allegedly from Sue Gray):

“A summary of my main findings:

“1. A culture of Covid-19 regulation rule-breaking at Number 10 Downing Street.

“2. Games were played which were known as ‘Slow Dance’ and ‘Pass the Arsehole’.

“3. A number of WhatsApp groups were established to organise gatherings, with titles including ‘Definitely A Meeting <winking emoji>’ and ‘Down It Street’.

“4. At one party, <redacted> a senior minister insisted all cabinet ministers get onto a table and perform Pure & Simple by Hear’Say.

“5. Before one of the gatherings <redacted> who worked closely with the PM insisted everyone be tested and was subsequently referred to as ‘Twateral Flow’ by advisors.

“6. A video of the PM’s wife at one party confirms her attendance in which she is heard saying, ‘it could be as few as four and as many as sixty kids’ lol.

“7. One advisor insisted this report makes clear ‘it is categorically not a breach of the rules to be part of a human centipede if said centipede was formed prior to lockdown’.

“Please forward any queries to my email [email protected]”

In a follow-up post, Lycett shared a message claiming to be from an employee of a cabinet minister: “Your tweet this morning was read as an actual serious leak from Sue Gray’s report.”

So he has now written the following, which explains why, like so many of us, he is angry about what the Partygate revelations mean – and why he is utterly unrepentant about causing any distress to the government:

It says [boldings mine]:

“Well it’s been an odd couple of days. I catfished (sort of accidentally) Nadine Dorries and then supposedly catfished (sort of accidentally) the whole government. I wrote some jokes on Twitter, some dumb people (some in our government) found them plausible rather than funny, and now I’m in most of the newspapers.

“I write comedy sometimes as a way of using anger. I write a daft letter about a parking fine or change my name to Hugo Boss or fake a Sue Gray report, all essentially because I’m angry. I’m angry right now probably for the same reason many other people are angry. In the early stages of lockdown in 2020 my best friend died from cancer. He was the person who had been with me through my journey in comedy the most closely; he had been to the smallest pub gigs all the way up to the Apollo and when I was first on Graham Norton. He had been ill for a number of years and towards the end I had helped as a part time carer. I watched him slip away, gradually, over months, and all that comes with it. It’s a long story for another time. But he died, at the start of lockdown, and I wasn’t there because I was following the rules, and we had a tiny insufficient funeral, because we were following the rules, and I drove his kids away from that funeral back to Birmingham without any sort of wake, because we were following the rules, and it felt unnatural and cruel and almost silly, but we did it because we followed the rules. So I suppose like thousands of others with their own stories, I’m angry about that.

“I’m not a political comic particularly and rarely if ever make outwardly political statements. And although I’ve never voted for the Tories (huge surprise) I’m not in the business of trashing them for the sake of it either. In the old days the Conservatives were literally about ‘conserving’. They believed in historical institutions and traditions, promoted incremental change and cautious progress. For a somewhat lefty w*nk*r like me that of course conflicted with my beliefs about gay marriage, the treatment of women and minorities, but I respected their approach in other areas and found some of their policies and ideology to be stable and reassuring.

“This lot don’t seem to be into that. They’re about power and little else. They torch traditions and institutions with ease if it helps them retain their grip. To Hell with my dead friend, they think, and all your dead friends and dead relatives. You followed the rules and we didn’t but we’re in power and that’s all that matters so spin on it.

“So I get angry and I write a few jokes about Sue Gray’s report, a report which will probably change nothing and we’ll all be here again in the not-too-distant future, in some other scandal, with some other liars. But for now you might wonder how it feels to have been described in the papers as having caused these people ‘chaos’ and ‘mayhem’ and ‘mass panic’ because of a few jokes.

“Let me be clear: it feels absolutely f*cking fantastic.”

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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Did #DowningStreet ask the #MetPolice to demand #Partygate report be edited?

Chums: Boris Johnson and Cressida Dick went to the same Oxford college.

Whenever you see a headline saying someone has denied doing something, you know evidence has been found that they did.

Opposition politicians have raised the possibility, as reported in (of all places) The Torygraph:

Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said that “a stitch up between the Met leadership and Number 10 will damage our politics for generations and it looks like it is happening right in front of our eyes.”

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister tweeted: “This gets murkier by the minute. Sue Gray and the Met are in difficult positions but the sequence of events and the situation arrived at now creates the suspicion – however unfairly – that the process of inquiry is aiding Johnson at the expense of public accountability.”

Downing Street has denied the possibility – weakly:

Asked if it was correct that the announcement from the Met had no involvement from No 10, a spokesman said: “I believe that’s correct.”

That is not a wholehearted denial.

This Site has already questioned whether the Metropolitan Police and Sue Gray were conspiring to keep Johnson in office.

This latest development can only intensify speculation, with its implication that Johnson is behind the delay.

Source: Politics latest news: No 10 denies claims it is behind Met’s request to edit ‘partygate’ report

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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The Livingstone Presumption is now available
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HWG PrintHWG eBook

Health Warning: Government! is now available
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HWG PrintHWG eBook

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:

SWAHTprint SWAHTeBook