Partygate - The Polecat’s Revenge

Alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is not wont to look any further than the current crisis, the day’s news cycle. So it was that he appeared not to give too much thought to what might happen after he dispensed with the services of now former chief Downing Street polecat Dominic Cummings, apparently after a significant falling out with his third wife Carrie. He could deal with that later. And now he must.

Two personalities clash: Polecat Dom ...

Because the Polecat’s fingers are all over his latest crisis: Cummings Tweeted four days ago “The Guardian photo does NOT show a party [the alleged ‘business meeting’ which just happened to feature cheese and wine] but there was a rule-breaking drinks on 20 May”. Three days after that, an email confirming the “rule-breaking drinks” is leaked. As Mrs Beckermann tells Charlie Croker in The Italian Job, It Wasn’t An Accident.

... and Bozo's wife Carrie ...

And, once again, it was ITV where the leak landed, as Paul Brand told. “Email obtained by [ITV News] proves over 100 staff were invited to drinks party in No 10 garden at height of lockdown to ‘make the most of the lovely weather’. We’re told PM and his wife attended, with staff invited to ‘bring your own booze!’” How nice for them all. And there was more.

... the shopping trolley symbol refers to Bozo

“Email was sent by the PM's Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds. 30-40 staff attended, eating picnic food and drinking in the garden. Less than an hour earlier, Oliver Dowden had told the public at the daily press conference to stick to meeting in pairs outdoors”. Dowden, as Paul Johnson recalled, had been quite specific in his advice.

“‘You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place provided that you stay 2 metres apart’ - Oliver Dowden, No10 news conference, 20 May, 2020 … Two hours later …” Two hours later, there was a party. As the Tweeter known as My Sweet Landlord noted, “Just to clarify, there is no way that an invitation from a civil servant to lots of other civil servants to bring their own booze to the Downing Street garden can result in a business meeting. That's another loophole closed”. And it got worse.

Tamara Cohen of Sky News told “Former special adviser Claire Pearsall tells [Sky News] a private secretary is unlikely to have organised such a drinks unless ‘the instruction came from the top… the private secretary works on behalf of the PM in this case’”.

Brand has this morning added “Health Minister Edward Argar has the unenviable job of defending No 10 this morning over the latest party. He says he can completely understand why people are ‘angry, upset and hurt by these allegations’ but we have to wait for Sue Gray’s internal investigation”. Why? As Argar was asked by Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid this morning, why does Bozo need to ask someone else if he was there?

It is clear from the Polecat’s Twitter feed that he dislikes Carrie Johnson. It is more than likely that this opinion has been reinforced by her part in his departure from Downing Street. He also knows that Bozo stood before the Commons last month and said “if those rules were broken, there will be disciplinary action for all those involved”. Since then, there just happen to have been two leaks of him being involved in breaking those rules himself.

The good news is that light is now being shone on the predictably cavalier attitude of this rotten, corrupt and unprincipled Government. The bad news is that we have had to wait a year and a half for it to shine. And only then because two people don’t like one another.

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