I was disappointed but not surprised that the prime minister won the vote of no-confidence last night. Boris Johnson seems to have an ability to escape the consequences of his actions within his own party. He is untouchable. One of the main impressions I’ve had during the pandemic is that this government is not prioritising the people, that the wellbeing of the public comes second to ministers’ own careers. And now this seems to have been confirmed, very loudly. The Conservative party has said, “We find this attitude acceptable in a leader. We don’t care what you think.”
When news of Partygate broke, I was struggling to deal with the loss of my dad, who died in April 2020. I wasn’t able to say goodbye to him. I wasn’t able to see him when he was ill because of the rules. And even before he was ill, I had planned to go home for the weekend; but lockdown was announced, so I obeyed the rules and I never saw my dad alive again. I’ve told myself that it was the right thing to do, because we were told that we had to protect the people around us. But I have a heavy cost to bear – that I will never see my dad again. And it hurts to think that when asked to make the same sacrifice it had asked of the British public, our own government didn’t think that the inconvenience of not having a party was worth it.
