30 minutes to go ‘till PMQ

Press conference at 3.30 today.

I wonder how it is, that attending all these gatherings, however briefly, was ok for Johnson, but my Dad had to die, without any family, there on the day of the Downing Street garden party.

Despite offering to pay for PPE, the care home couldn't let me in even for 2 minutes, to just say goodbye.?

He's doing a press conference around 3.30pm about it. He's usually late so probably nearer 4pm. Let's see what he has come up with since PMQs and his speech re the report.

Grandmabatty

From the political editor of The Times
The worst of Gray report:

* Excessive drinking, staff being sick

* Partying until 4.35am on eve of Prince Phillip's funeral

* Red wine on walls

* Abuse of cleaning staff & security staff

* Warnings about parties ignored

* Martin Reynolds: 'We seem to have got away with it'
So this is also mild?

No, this is certainly NOT mild Grandmabatty. Gray is describing here the civil servants parties that Boris wasn’t attending.

When I said ‘mild’ I meant with regards to the PM after all the hysteria. Apologies - I didn’t make my post clearer!

I am so sorry to read that DiamondLily it is quite unforgiveable. How dreadful for you.

What is clear is that the party in the Downing Street flat (Abba music etc.) has NOT been subject to investigation by either Sue Gray or the Metropolitan Police. Sue Gray didn’t include it because she believed it was being investigated by the MPS, but they then declined to look into that. (There is apparently evidence that there were in fact three gatherings attended by the PM that have not been subject to investigation by the MPS.)

Some have queried why junior civil servants were fined, but senior civil servants were not - when both attended the same gatherings. It’s been mooted that the reason for this is that senior CSs declined to fill in the questionnaires they were sent and thereby avoided giving evidence.

Every Conservative MP who supports this lying charlatan of a PM to remain in place has, in my view, lost any shred of integrity.

Well, I can't blame the care home, because they were lovely, but they didn't dare break the rules.

I'm just upset that I, and thousands of others, had to go through this, whilst Johnson and his cronies were laughing at us all.?

This isn’t the end. From Sky News:

Group launches legal action over Met Police's alleged failure to 'adequately investigate' partygate
The Good Law Project has launched legal action over what they describe as the Metropolitan Police's alleged failure to "adequate investigate" lockdown-busting parties held in Downing Street and across Whitehall.
The group, representing former deputy assistant commissioner of the Met and now Liberal Democrat peer Lord Paddick, has given the force two weeks to respond to its legal letter before applying for a judicial review in the High Court.
"We can see no basis for holding junior civil servants to a higher standard than the prime minister," a letter by the Good Law Project says.
"And that is why we – former senior police officer Lord Brian Paddick and Good Law Project – have taken the first formal step in further judicial review proceedings against the Metropolitan Police.
"We invite the Met to confirm it will rectify its failures to investigate the prime minister’s participation in the three gatherings, or provide us with its reasons so we can assess the lawfulness of its refusal.
"Unless it does, and we have given it 14 days to comply, we will begin further judicial review proceedings. "

Good. ?

My daughter is clinical manager for a large hospital. When she is on duty she is expected to know and to accept responsibility for whatever is happening on her watch. What is more is that the clinical managers are expected to set the tone for the hospital’s culture. She does this (as do her colleagues) in spite of the worst pressures, least staff and highest patient levels in the history of the hospital.

Surely we can expect our PM to at least match this level of commitment? Unless you believe that our PM genuinely does not know the difference between work and socialising you must believe that he lied. And if he does not know the difference he surely is not fit to be PM!

Bindmans LLP have won the case against Greater Manchester Police:

www.bindmans.com/news/nhs-nurses-win-compensation-claim-against-police-following-covid-fine

Let's they can hold the Met to account.

He’s really rattled at this news conference isn’t he. Showed his true colours when he just spoke to Beth Rigby. Under that jolly facade is a truly nasty person and he struggled to keep the mask on just now.

Mask slippage is all part of his anti-social behaviour:

Mask Slipping. Narcissists have to put on a front that they view the world as everyone else does. Although not all are self-aware, they are aware that not all of their actions would be viewed favorably. They have learned how to hide their true motives and feelings behind a “mask of sanity.” When cracks show the behaviors that are incongruent with their image, it is called “mask slippage.”

Narcissistic Injury. This was at one time technical psychological jargon from Sigmund Freud to refer to a threat to or attack on the narcissist’s ego by someone else. The injury occurs due to a failure to reflect back the idealized image that the narcissist has of himself or herself. The term has now become a common one used in the online narcissistic abuse community to describe what happens when a person does something a narcissist perceives as criticism.

Narcissistic Rage. Another technical term to describe the blind anger of the narcissist in response to a narcissistic injury that results in the mask slipping. In response to it, the narcissist may engage in a host of abusive behaviors designed to seek revenge on the person who caused the injury.

fairytaleshadows.com/narcissist-dictionary-terms/

My bet is that's why he left the stage so quickly. He will be in an absolute rage right now. We are dealing with a madman.

My bet is that's why he left the stage so quickly. He will be in an absolute rage right now. We are dealing with a madman

Hyperbolic nonsense!
He allowed extra questions & didn’t rush away. He seemed affable and relaxed when he left the podium.

Urmstongran

^My bet is that's why he left the stage so quickly. He will be in an absolute rage right now. We are dealing with a madman^

Hyperbolic nonsense!
He allowed extra questions & didn’t rush away. He seemed affable and relaxed when he left the podium.

You deserve a medal for your continued support of the PM.

And why did he say to Beth Rigby that "he has to get us through this war?" Did I miss a declaration of war? We are not at war.

Urmstongran

^My bet is that's why he left the stage so quickly. He will be in an absolute rage right now. We are dealing with a madman^

Hyperbolic nonsense!
He allowed extra questions & didn’t rush away. He seemed affable and relaxed when he left the podium.

No. He kept telling people what a jolly generous fellow he was. He demeanour showed otherwise. He was downright rude to Andrew Marr.

And, thinking about it that’s another one of his strategies. Kept making people think how generous is was of him to give up his time to answer questions. No awareness that he was doing so because he had lied to parliament and the nation. Another one is (as he did with the NHS) was make it look as though the criticism was being aimed at the Civil Service and that he needed to protect them because they’d worked so hard.

He brushed off Marr's question as he did most simply because he has no answers other that platitudes and more lies. Tobias Ellwood was very clear today in the HoC. Johnson is destroying his own party's chance of winning the next election. It's exactly what Jonathan Lis (Bylines) describes. He does not care who or what he destroys. It is all a game to him.

I just think those who didn’t want Boris anyway as PM are doing their darnedest to pin something (anything) on him to get him out and get their wish. So far it’s not working. The annoyed people are now furious. He only got one fine. That was when people surprised him in his office with a birthday cake. It wasn’t a pre-arranged meeting (curry and beer anyone?). Then the Gray report is not damning him personally. It acknowledges changes to the chain of command re civil servants working in No.10 (hundreds apparently) are in place and progress continues to be made.

The ballot box at a GE will resolve all this brouhaha in the fullness of time.

On that note, YouGov latest:

yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval
Only 21% approve of the current government, and that is before today’s shenanigans.

If the 1922 committee think he is ruining their chances, changes will be made. But until then he’s going nowhere. Which annoys some greatly but there it is.

As I say, the ballot box. Not the polls. (They are often wrong).

And this is how well people think Boris personally is doing- again before today, latest is 5th May.
yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/boris-johnson-approval-rating
26% approval rating.

How can you say that? The Gray report was remarkably clear in blaming him

"The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture."

The political leader she is referring to is the Prime Minister.

He said himself he takes full responsility. Of course, that's just weasel words, unless he proves it by resigning.

I do wish I'd proof read more carefully. Responsibility, not whatever random letters I typed instead.