Eviction from Downing Street will cost Boris Johnson his longed-for legacy. It will cost us, the taxpayer, £180,000.
That’s the price of the civil service and police time spent probing No10 parties that should never have happened.
The nation is rightly furious that the Prime Minister cared so little for the Covid rules he himself imposed that he put living it up before his duty to protect lives and livelihoods.
Our PM gave not one jot about those who were forbidden from saying a final face-to-face goodbye to a dying loved one – or the family get-togethers we all did without because we were obeying his rules.
Patsy Stevenson is angry too. She was fined £200 for breaking lockdown restrictions to honour the memory of murdered Sarah Everard.
There was no cheese and wine at the vigil Patsy attended on London’s Clapham Common.
Yet police pinned her down to arrest her, while ignoring food and booze pouring into No10.
The cost of the Partygate inquiry would be better spent on shielding women and girls from the kind of predator who snatched Sarah’s life away. And this investigation would not be needed had Mr Johnson and his staff accepted that rules also apply to them.
This PM is on borrowed time. We will party – legally – when it finally runs out.
A great honour for Camilla
Camilla Parker Bowles may have been a skilled horsewoman, but she had a rough ride of it when she became Duchess of Cornwall.
Many people could not forgive her for the part she played in the break-up of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage.
But that was nothing compared to the fences the Queen had to jump within her own family while trying to maintain the dignity of royalty and respect for the monarchy.
Both were tarnished when grandson Prince Harry turned his back on royal duties and skipped off to America to give a toe-curling interview to Oprah Winfrey, and strike embarrassing deals with Netflix.
It pained the Queen greatly when she had to strip her favourite son, Prince Andrew, of his titles as he faces accusations of sexual assault in a US court. But her duty to the nation demanded it, and the Queen has always put that before personal feelings.
Throughout, Camilla has been steadfastly by the Queen’s side, her support in times of trouble.
And just like the Sovereign, she negotiates the pathways of public life without putting a foot wrong – a ready smile and a kind word are always on her lips.
The Queen is not one to ignore such loyalty and dedication. And today, as she becomes the first British monarch to reign for 70 years, she wants the world to know that when the time comes, Camilla will be called Queen Consort.
We are delighted Camilla is to receive the honour. As they say in royal circles, she’s a jolly good fellow.
And so say all of us.
