Social media has once again been awash with debate over the position of the Prime Minister this week after one of his close allies said Boris Johnson may not have been aware he was at a party while in a room raising a glass with colleagues and friends surrounded by alcohol.
Pictures were released hours before Sue Gray’s report was published showing Johnson at a leaving party for senior advisers, Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain, in Downing Street on November 13, 2020. There were at least eight other people in the room at a time when people were banned from social mixing, other than to meet one person outside, and at least one person has received a fine in relation to the event - but not Boris himself.
In an interview last week Transport Secretary Grant Shapps suggested that his boss was unaware he had broken rules. "I see his red box is there, which is his work box, it looks to me like he goes down on his way out of the office and thanks the staff and raises a glass, and doesn't in his mind recognise it as a party,” he told Sky News. “And indeed the police have looked into this and spent a lot of time and resources." You can get more politics news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
READ MORE: The Cardiff students fined for parties on the night Boris Johnson drank at leaving do
It wouldn’t be the first time the Prime Minister has used the defence of being oblivious to the rules his own government instigated during lockdowns. He also said he didn’t realise a gathering he attended in June, 2020, attended by around 30 people, had broken rules.
Regarding the November 13 party, Sue Gray’s report, released last week, which also referenced a host of similar parties which you can read about here, said: “The Prime Minister attended on his way to his Downing Street flat, having left his office at 19.17. He went to the Press Office area, joined the gathering and made a leaving speech for Lee Cain. Wine had been provided and those attending, including the Prime Minister, were drinking alcohol. There are a number of photographs of the event." You can see all of those photos here.
Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford waded in on the debate during a Covid briefing on Friday, saying: “I don’t think the Prime Minister can escape from his responsibility simply by apologising for it and saying that when he entered a room where people were eating and drinking, sitting on each other’s laps, planning to spend the night there into the early hours, that he didn’t realise that this was not consistent with the rules that he himself was setting. I’m afraid I don’t find that credible and I don’t think many other people do either.”
WalesOnline posted that comment on Facebook to see what readers made of the hot water the Prime Minister has found himself in. Here is what some of them thought.
Maureen Moore said: “Oh come on now. Boris smirks his sly grin with every apology. Does anyone really believe this rubbish excuse? I am blind but would know if a party was in progress in my home. How many times will you allow this man to make fools of you?”
Jill Shorting agreed, saying: “Boris should resign. He sets the rules and he breaks them, he is a liar and cannot be trusted.” Some were critical of the First Minister, like Glen Chandler, who said: “We, the silent majority, don’t find you credible either.” However, Paul Albert pointed out: “The actual majority voted last year and he [Labour] won.”
Some argued the nation needed to move on from the “saga” and focus on other things - a line the Tories have also tried to use on many occasions since the parties came to light. Adda Macchich agreed, saying: “Oh just give it up. We have much bigger and much more current problems than yet more old Covid lockdown nonsense. Move on for God’s sake.”
David Birch added: “Oh for crying out loud, we could be at war if we’re not careful. We have a massive debt that’s got to be paid off some time, we are still in a pandemic and people are still chewing over things that happened two years ago.”
Ann English hit back: “Some people said their last goodbyes to members of their families via phone and I’m sure that these people will be ‘chewing things over’ for many years to come. They had no choice but to stick to the rules made by Boris Johnson.”
Hywel Wyn Jones wrote: “I don’t vote for Mark Drakeford’s party, but I detest and despair at the amount of childish, abusive, negative comments on here by people who prefer to condone or support the lying, disgraceful and disgraced, immoral, irresponsible specimen who holds on to the office of Prime Minister of the disunited kingdom.”
