From London
The email from Boris Johnson’s main adviser to more than 100 people in the middle of the first phase of the pandemic it had the fun air of a youth party. Invitation to “drinks” at 10 Downing Street and a suggestion that everyone bring their share of alcohol to the event, something typical of student or informal events, unusual in official events. In case something was missing, the email from the advisor Martin Reynolds used a word from the lunfardo to name the alcohol: “bring booze to make the most of this lovely weather” (bring alcohol to make the most of this wonderful climate).
The style, unusual as it may be, is obviously the least of it. An hour before Reynolds sent the mail, at the 10 Downing Street press conference, other Johnson’s advisor, Oliver Dowden, reminded Britons that they might only meet one person outside their home as long as they maintained social distance. And the then Minister of Health, Matt Hancock, asked that the “lovely weather” not make anyone forget that the rules of social interaction were still in force: you had to stay alert at all times, it was the official message. It would not be the first or the last time that 10 Downing Street violated its own rules.
The endless scandal
The scandal jumped in late November when the Daily Mirror revealed that Boris Johnson and his team had attended a pre-Christmas meeting that violated the protocols that the rest of the British had to follow in the face of COVID. From there, the revelations regarding other parties in November and December 2020 that went once morest the policy that the government proclaimed from the rooftops followed. A few days before Christmas, the The Guardian, posted a May 15, 2020 photo showing Johnson, his wife Carrie, their newborn baby Dominic Cummings, then the prime minister’s top adviser, and the ever-present Martin Reynolds sipping red wine accompanied by cheesy crackers alongside 19 other people in a meeting that, as one might imagine, did not respect the protocol required at the time to the rest of society.
The string of revelations, which are being investigated by a parliamentary commission, led to a resounding downfall of Johnson’s already downcast image.. The parliamentary commission now added to its portfolio Reynolds’ email inviting more than 100 people to the event, considered by many commentators as the most serious of all complaints. The key issue, unavoidable with this latest email, is whether Boris Johnson mislead the parliament and society with the explanations he has given so far.
Me sir, no sir
Labor and other opposition parties have accused Johnson of doing exactly that: mislead. Ed Miliband, a former Labor leader and current climate change spokesman for the main opposition party, noted that Reynolds’ email ends with the alibis the prime minister used to delineate responsibilities. “This was an organized party, not impromptu at the time. It was the most flagrant violation of the rules. The prime minister cannot hide. You have to respond. You have to say if he was at the party. It cannot be justified as it has done so far in the House of Commons, “Miliband told the BBC.
Among the conservatives are not crowded those who come out to defend Johnson. The leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, Douglas Ross did not walk around either: prime minister must resign if he misled parliament. “The prime minister repeatedly said that there had been no party and that the rules had not been violated. If the prime minister knew regarding this holiday in December, if he knew last week when he was still denying all knowledge, then it is very serious. It is impossible that parliament can be deceived (…. Mislead…) without consequences. No one can stay in place if they do this, ”Ross said.
What did Johnson say?
On December 1 in the House of Commons, following the Daily Mirror fired the scandal with his party information at 10 Downing Street in pre-Christmas 2020, Johnson assured that “the rules had been followed to the letter.” In subsequent statements to various media, from Sky News to the BBC, the prime minister repeated the same argument.
A few days later, Boris Johnson was forced to apologize in parliament following a video was released on ITV showing his press officer Allegra Stratton laughing regarding the party and the “alleged” participation of the prime minister in it. “I am furious and appalled at this impression that Downing Street staff do not take protocol seriously. They have repeatedly assured me that there was no party and that the rules were not violated,” Johnson said.
The new revelation and those still in the pipeline will be decisive. The prime minister can hardly give an evasive answer to the question that the opposition will ask him in parliament regarding whether or not he attended the party of more than 100 guests and if he did not know anything regarding that that was happening at 10 Downing Street, it is that is, in your own official residence.
In politics many times it seems that anything can happen and perhaps Johnson can still insist on his good faith and hold on to office, unless visual proof appears that he was in the middle of so much “booze” dancing “Twist and shouts” or ” La Bamba”. In a country that has no constitution and operates on the basis of precedent rather than written rule, history gives him a hand: there is no similar prior event that forces him to resign. In any case, with a scandal that is an endless snowball, it is clear that some heads will roll, that of the ineffable Martin Reynolds, a career diplomat, will be one of them, almost certainly the first.
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