U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing accusations from angry citizens that he may have participated in several social gatherings in violation of the government’s own COVID-19 protocols. The nation continues to await a report on the alleged “Partygate” scandal from civil servant Sue Gray, who currently serves as second permanent secretary in the Cabinet Office under cabinet secretary Michael Gove.
The Sue Gray report was expected as early as today but, as of this writing, has not yet been released. Gray has been investigating reports of illegal social gatherings at Number 10 Downing Street, while the rest of the U.K. was under lockdown or otherwise restricted from holding such events.
Number 10 Downing Street reported that it had not yet received the report as of 5:30p.m. GMT. They further stated that the earliest that Johnson would publicly react to the highly anticipated report would be at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.
U.K. politics is, essentially, on hold pending release of Gray’s report.
“The report matters because if it has negative ramifications in the public arena that will put pressure on MPs,” said Queen Mary University political lecturer Richard Johnson. “Simple majority of conservative MPs can remove the prime minister in a vote of no confidence in his leadership, and that’s really, they are the gatekeepers of Boris Johnson’s leadership.”
Conservatives may indeed act to remove Johnson, but would prefer it wait until after the May local election — not out of loyalty to Johnson, but because it would be difficult to change horses mid-stream.
But the far-left Labour Party sees benefits to the prolonged crisis as well, since the longer Johnson dodges questions about the gatherings, the guiltier he appears to the public and the more stark the choice appears between Johnson and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.
“Ultimately, Boris Johnson’s trying to make the pitch that ‘you might not like what I did, maybe I regret what I did, but I’m carrying the program forward, and I’m the one to do it.’ Whether he’s credible on that claim and whether those claims are robust claims is a different matter. But that’s the pitch,” Richard Johnson told CNN.
In addition to the government’s own investigation, London’s Metropolitan Police are now investigating the matter, which could result in criminal penalties for Johnson and/or his staff.
“As a result firstly of information provided by the Cabinet Office inquiry team and secondly my officers’ own assessment, I can confirm that the Met is now investigating a number of events that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in the last two years in relation to potential breaches of Covid-19 regulations,” said Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick on Tuesday.
Johnson’s popularity had been ebbing in recent months even prior to the “Partygate” scandal as his hype of COP26 in Scotland late last year resulted in a conference that resulted in disappointment to both climate alarmists and climate realists.
According to a Survation poll released on Wednesday, a full 71 percent of respondents said that Johnson should resign as prime minister if found guilty. Only 21 percent believe that the embattled prime minister should not resign. It’s the third poll in recent weeks to come to the same conclusion as an Opinium Survey released on January 15 finding that 63 percent of adults called on Johnson to resign, and a Savanta ComRes poll released on January 11 showing that 66 percent wished that the prime minister would resign.
Johnson’s cratering poll numbers are affecting his Conservative (Tory) Party as well: The Survation poll showed that 43 percent would vote for the opposition Labour Party in an election held tomorrow as opposed to only 33 percent for the Tories.
COVID-19 hypocrisy has not been hard to find at all during the pandemic. In the United States, House Speaker and Democrat Nancy Pelosi got her hair done in a San Francisco salon despite a ban on the activity in the state at the time.
Leftist California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was caught celebrating a lavish birthday dinner at a luxurious Napa Valley restaurant, which was against California COVID restrictions at the time.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s husband reportedly tried to use his status as the governor’s husband to get his boat in the water for the Memorial Day weekend in 2020 against Michigan’s COVID restrictions.
The list goes on and on.
While nothing happened to Pelosi, Newsom, or Whitmer other than some momentary embarrassment, Boris Johnson’s indiscretions may ultimately cost him his job as the political leader of the U.K.
