Nobody told me this was against the rules – Boris Johnson.

We’ve got a Prime Minister who set the rules on COVID-19, then repeatedly reminded the public what those rules were and why they had to be followed, now telling us that nobody actually told him what the very rules were.

Freudian slip

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab tried his very best to protect the prime minister from Sky News’ Kay Burley’s pertinent questions on whether Boris Johnson had lied to Parliament and to the British people, before he accidentally admitted that the 20 May party in Number 10 was indeed... a party.

The leadership contender

If the Prime Minister was hoping for some support from his Chancellor Rishi Sunak – one of the favourites to replace him if Johnson loses his job, it was all but in vain. When asked whether if the PM lied to Parliament he should resign, he said that the Ministerial Code is clear on that. Asked then whether he was supporting the PM unequivocally, he just walked off without answering the question.

Was that an admission that he is not?

When you want a job done, do it yourself.

Taking his fate into his own hands, Boris Johnson eventually spoke to Sky News’ Beth Rigby. It was the first time he was addressing the subject of the Number 10 parties scandal since his public apologies at last week’s PMQ in the House of Commons.

But in his responses to Beth Rigby’s forensic questioning, he actually ended up worsening an already bad situation by suggesting that he was not told prior to attending the 20 May party what the COVID rules were.

The very Prime Minister who set the rules on COVID-19, who then repeatedly reminded the public what those rules were and why they had to be followed, has just told us that nobody had actually told him what the very rules he set for the entire country were.

Who do you think you are fooling now?

How it should be done

Finally, the guys at Led by Donkeys have created a brilliant video on how the Metropolitan Police – that has so far refused to investigate the Downing Street parties during the lockdowns – really should be investigating the parties and Boris Johnson. It is worth watching:

Sources

• Text: This piece was first published in PMP Magazine on 18 January 2022.
• Cover: Screenshot of Boris Johnson/BBC News.