Categories
Current revelations put the Barnard Castle trip into context – politicalbetting.com
Current revelations put the Barnard Castle trip into context – politicalbetting.com
We all remember at the height of the first lockdown how the Cummings road trip on April 2020 so dominated the media when this was exposed a few weeks later and led to a big drop for the Tories in both the voting intention polls and Johnson’s leader ratings.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-live-news-uk-boris-johnson-sue-gray-report-parties-nusrat-ghani-12514080
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1241348429546217475?s=20
This is what Boris Johnson wrote to 7 year old Josephine who cancelled her birthday party:
"Josephine sets a great example to us all by postponing her birthday party until we have sent coronavirus packing.
Together we can beat this. In the meantime let's all wish her happy birthday (twice) whilst washing our hands. #BeLikeJosephine #StayHomeSaveLives"
This is the kind of thing which really cuts through.
So I am told.
"By coincidence, my partner shares a birthday with the Prime Minister (19th June). We marked it in 2020 by inviting one other household to sit outside, socially distanced, in our garden. It didn't occur to us - literally couldn't conceive - that we would act outside the rules."
https://twitter.com/RuthDavidsonPC/status/1485718151585501186?cxt=HHwWhMDU2bCyqp4pAAAA
I'd sooner fly on Ryanair.
ETA scooped again. Must learn to type faster. And/or think faster.
I know the Scottish tories really have it in for him at the moment but it's really interesting to see people like Grant Shapps distancing himself from the PM this morning.
Do they know Johnson's time is up?
It shouldn't need a political pro to notice the issue, just a bit of human empathy. But if this is how good she is at her job... Oh man...
Buffoon.
My recollection is that up to that point the public was highly supportive of the restrictive measures imposed. After BC, there was a changed attitude and many thought 'what the hell'. Mrs PtP was in London at the time, keeping her head down and her body in line with the regs, and then some. She's like that. It was hot the following weekend and when she took the dog for a walk she found that suddenly her local park was full of people partying and enjoying the weather as if the regulations didn't exist. The park was so crowded that she didn't feel comfortable and she headed home. A few days later she came down with Covid. It was bad. She was lucky to survive. Recovery took months. Obviously we don't know that there was a causal connection but we both felt the Government had let the public down by setting the worst type of example.
My view these days is that lockdowns are useless unless strictly followed and rigorously imposed. Otherwise it is probably better not to bother at all and the government would do better just to point out the dangers and ask everyone to try their best and follow their own judgement. This seems to me to be about where we have got to now.
Back then it was different. The lockdown was observed and imposed, for a good while. It follows obviously that if the Government is to impose severe restrictions on the population, it simply has to adhere to the highest standards itself.
Everybody has their own story to tell. This is mine. You can understand without me labouring the point just what I think of the revelations of what was going on at No. 10, and why I feel the way I do.
@DPJHodges
·
4m
Can we just be clear. It's not about a cake. It's about whether the Covid lockdown rules were followed by the person setting the Covid lockdown rules. And we were told those rules were in place to protect the country from the biggest threat it had faced since the war.
https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1485893134190002176
And when Sunak arrives my ministerial career is finished.
Have I missed something?
But the adults obsession with birthdays is ridiculous - cake, cards, presents, dinner with family or close friends - great - but I don’t give a crap if it’s a work colleague’s birthday and really don’t feel the need to have a cake and “picnic food” in the boardroom…..
It’s like the rise of stag and hen parties where now every poor bugger has to stump up a few grand to travel to Ibiza to drink Prosecco a few weeks before the wedding as well as attending the “home” stag/hen on top.
I get Boris is a man-child but….. I bet he wore a stupid pointy party hat.
Building work in occupied buildings wasn't really allowed at the time, empty new builds weren't a problem but the only improvements allowed was emergency safety work.
As I pointed out last night the decorator we use was working in Morrisons at the time because it was some money rather than none.
https://twitter.com/BBCJonSopel/status/1485886608607961089?s=20
Once you are out of childhood all that nonsense should stop. A kiss and some warm words from the nearest and dearest is plenty. The rest is just an excuse for silliness, and worse.
Boris just had a cake given to him by his wife in the office, had congratulations, then back to work
Given the weather and the fact that there a lot of people effectively on holiday from work, they went to the parks, throughout. I don't think I saw it getting crowed though. Probably a function of how many people have gardens, plus the number of large parks in West London.
(NSFW)
https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/beltane-fire-society-performers-celebrate-the-coming-of-news-photo/1146137853
I always put a huge effort into Valentine's Day, but this year I have put so much effort into it because last year we couldn't celebrate it, and I'm thinking about popping the question.
I tell you what is worse than Hen Nights (and I've been on a few), a STEN do, when the bride and groom to be hold a joint stag and hen night.
‘I thought at least she was good at her fcuking job’
No different to what happens in most offices on birthdays.
Brief congratulations is hardly a party
What’s to celebrate?
“The sun is the same, in a relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death”
Adults really SHOULD get over it
"To be honest with you, I made a conscious decision not to follow the news and the political commentary on the situation. I have not watched Russian state television for years. When I encounter the commentary from an “opposition” journalist or a political observer, I become very anxious and disturbed. I recall how I was obsessed with news and blogs back in 2014 amidst the Crimean situation reading every worthwhile piece of information and waking up every morning with the feeling of existential threat and panic (like a Munch’s man in Scream).
So now I am taking an ostrich’s view. Instead of reading the news and posts, I am enjoying the Moscow’s rich cultural life and vibrant restaurant scene... I have wanted for weeks to set aside a time during a weekend and to read commentaries on the situation so as to understand the origin (why there has been such a buildup of troops in the first place) as well as the scenarios. I think I would still need to catch up on that (as they say, if you are not interested in politics, the politics becomes interested in you). I think very few of my friends or colleagues would be able to give a chronological account how the current situation came to be and what led to it. It just happened to be in the news all of a sudden.
So I really do not know. I can only hope it is a big bluff but I do not understand why now all of a sudden… and why such unrealistic demands are being made by Russia to NATO.
I honestly think that Russia’s rulers have some kind of a complex and are just craving for an attention from the US and the world. They just cannot stand it when the rest of the world ignores Russia as the bygone superpower, they want to be reckoned with and they want to be in the news."
Likely a minority view, but an interesting insight into the liberal professional mindset in an autocracy. Try to zone out and get on with life.
It was no physical meeting between more than 2 people and even then keep a distance apart.
Even if you removed the cake the meeting should not have occurred...
Not under covid regulations, it wasn't legal.
I am surprised there hasn't been comment on how many of them actually came down with covid? Cause and effect, right there.
I suspect Tory MPs are about in the same range as 2019 Tory voters on Boris and for now Boris narrowly wins a VONC
https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-gb-voting-intention-24-january-2022/
Closely followed by Valentine’s Day. One of the most tragic sights in the universe is a restaurant full of silent couples who have been married/partnered for years and have nothing to say to each other
Aaaargh
Meanwhile top judoka Putin looks to exploit loss of balance in his opponents. Sees cake hysteria in Britain and abject protection of business interests in Germany,
and wonders whether now is the moment before the great thaw in the border lands.
Then you sit in the restaurant surrounded by couples where the woman has made a big effort, hair, make-up, sexiest dress and most of the chaps are sitting there in a t-shirt and jeans and trainers waiting for her to go to the loo so he can check the football news……
Joy, romance and celebration should be spontaneous not just because the calendar tells you.
Now I shall go and find a girlfriend so I can refuse to take her out on Feb 14th and make my stand! I’m sure it will work out fine.
Change will force hundreds of thousands of older people and those in rural areas to upgrade mobiles
Vodafone, which has about 18 million UK mobile customers, is to turn off the almost two-decade-old network as usage dwindles to focus on using the freed up spectrum to expand its 4G and 5G networks. However, the company, which is to phase out 3G along the same timeline as EE-owner BT, admits that there are hundreds of thousands of customers who have stuck with their 3G-only phones, particularly older owners who have not been enticed to join the smartphone revolution."
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/25/vodafone-to-switch-off-uk-3g-network-by-end-of-2023
1. Downplay the incident - “it was only a cake - is that all you have?!”
2. Blur the lines between No.10 being a place of work but also a home where social activities take place.
It is unpleasant to see. I hope they all sink with Boris.
May survived for six months after the December 2018 VONC she won until the May 2019 local and European elections which were admittedly disastrous for the Tories. If Boris wins a VONC now he therefore at least survives until the local elections in May
That seems nuts, but I can't quite see where the value is. He's layable at 3.8, Johnson backable at 3.7, neither of which scream value. Maybe in value in the other options...
A totally disinterested acquaintenace texts me this story as a must read for anyone on Boris Johnson's departure.
In short, the Tory Party shop stewards are also the assassins.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/24/1922-coup-members-tory-partys-influential-group-mobilising-against
Laters.
How do people live without their own accountants?
Though the 1922 can amend the 1 year between VONCs rule if the party board agrees
P.S. Which party are we discussing?
How hard could it have been to simply have some humility and to hold back on these “events” until everyone was allowed to do them?
Just ridiculous.
@PaulBrandITV
·
1h
PM not the only one facing the heat today. Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick faces questions from London Assembly members at 10am about why police have decided not to investigate No 10 parties at this stage.
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1485885768073629696
===
Do nothing until Sue Gray has reported. Then swoop. Please.
Please.
I was told that pretty much from April 2020 onwards until July 2021 there were weekly parties as well as other ad hoc parties that broke Covid-19 rules.
So we probably only know of maybe 1 in 5 parties.
Yet.
HYUFD is showing (once again) how he will attempt to argue Black is White even when the both paint tin and the uncleaned paint brush used have been found and both confirm that it is black.
Doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, and other medical professionals on the front line during the pandemic, more so than the staff in Downing Street weren't allowed to have morale boosting parties.
https://twitter.com/Tucker5law/status/1485744631681794050
Malcolm V Tucker 🏴☠️
@Tucker5law
·
10h
It was just ten minutes with a cake…it was just a few staff in the garden….it was just a childcare bubble….it was just wine and cheese…it was just a Christmas quiz…it was just…it was just…it was just not what everyone else was fucking doing.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rEXBKfuKFzc
So keep up.