Christmas Penis Decoration Johnson County
14:57
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, has said that Boris Johnson needs to "come clean" about what happened at Downing Street last Christmas. She told the BBC:
The prime minister appears to be not being straight and truthful about it.
That really matters because he is likely to be asking people to do difficult things again over this Christmas and it's really important that he's straight and honest with people - if mistakes were made, to own them, to apologise for them.
I think this is a really serious issue for the prime minister and I think he has to come clean.
She also said she remembered the period around 18 December (when the party took place) very well.
This was last Christmas - 18 and 19 December are dates engraved on my mind as perhaps one of, if not the lowest, darkest point in the whole pandemic.
We had told people they could have some very limited normality over Christmas then at the last minute we had to snatch that away and dash people's hopes.
That is what makes people so angry about what was allegedly happening in Downing Street.
14:53
From ITV's Anushka Asthana
Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana)Minister now responds to say. "Mood is sulphurous. Most people angry and resentful at having been let down. Not good." And it sounds like plan B press conference may now not happen.
December 8, 2021
14:41
Top UK health officials call for stricter Covid isolation and testing rules
Senior health officials have drawn up advice saying the UK should bring back stricter isolation and testing rules for contacts of Covid cases, amid concerns that triggering plan B is not enough to stop the spread of Omicron, my colleague Rowena Mason reports.
14:34
And Douglas Ross, the current Scottish Conservative leader, says there are still "serious questions to answer" about the Christmas party affair. This is from STV's Colin Mackay.
Colin Mackay (@STVColin)Scottish Conservative leader @Douglas4Moray says "there was a party of sorts" and he still has confidence in the PM but "he has serious questions to answer on this".
December 8, 2021
14:32
Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Conservative leader, says she and others in the party are still furious about No 10's handling of the Christmas party story.
Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonPC)December 8, 2021None of this is remotely defensible. Not having busy, boozy not-parties while others were sticking to the rules, unable to visit ill or dying loved ones.
Nor flat-out denying things that are easily provable. Not taking the public for fools. 1/2
Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonPC)And today's "we'll investigate what we've spent a week saying didn't happen and discipline staff for rules we continue to say weren't broken" was pathetic. As a Tory, I was brought up to believe in playing with a straight bat. Believe me, colleagues are furious at this, too. 2/2
December 8, 2021
14:11
No 10 won't confirm that cabinet secretary investigating Christmas party didn't attend himself
At the Downing Street post-PMQs lobby briefing No 10 confirmed that Boris Johnson did not attend the party on 18 December last year.
But, as my colleague J essica Elgot reports, No 10 would not say whether Simon Case, the cabinet secretary asked to investigate the party, attended himself.
Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot)New - No10 briefing declines to confirm or deny if their spokesmen or indeed the cabinet Secretary Simon Case were at the gatherings last winter. The only investigation is into the Dec 18 party - the one they will confirm the PM did not attend. No investigations into others.
December 8, 2021
The Mirror's Kevin Maguire thinks this position is untenable.
Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire)December 8, 2021No 10 refusing to say whether or not Cabinet Secretary Simon Case was at the party he's now investigating.
Another untenable Downing Street position.
So did or didn't he go?
Because if Case went, he can't head an inquiry though he could supply a guest list.
If Case did attend, then asking him to investigate could be designed to force him to produce a report either saying it was all fine, or recommending his own resignation. Neither motive seems 100% implausible, although, as Maguire argues, presumably Case would see that it was unacceptable for him to investigate an event he attended himself.
13:56
On Monday the PM's spokesperson said that there was no party in Downing Streeet on 18 December last year. It was an odd thing to say, as even Boris Johnson himself had not gone that far.
But today the PM's press secretary refused to repeat that statement. She said:
You have our previous statement on this. Now, the prime minister has asked the cabinet secretary to establish the facts. While that process is ongoing, it wouldn't be right to comment further.
At the briefing No 10 also said the PM still had full confidence in Allegra Stratton, his spokesperson on Cop26 who was his press secretary last December when she was filmed making light of a question about a lockdown-busting No 10 party in a filmed press conference rehearsal never intended to be broadcast.
Dan Bloom (@danbloom1)The spokesman also said Allegra Stratton - the spokeswoman seen laughing in a mock press briefing about the party - had not been suspended and the PM had full confidence in her.
December 8, 2021
Updated
13:47
No 10 signals inquiry into Downing Street partying will not cover leaving do at which PM reportedly gave speech
The Downing Street Christmas party inquiry will only investigate the event on 18 December, the prime minister's spokesman has indicated.
That means a leaving do in Downing Street on 27 November, at which the PM reportedly gave a speech and which also appears to have been in breach of lockdown rules, will not be investigated. And there won't be an inquiry into claims that there was another party on 13 November.
At the post-PMQs lobby briefing the PM's spokesman said:
[Simon Case, the cabinet secretary] has been asked to establish the facts on any events on [December] 18, and that's what he will start work on.
Asked how long the Case inquiry would take, the spokesman said:
It is obviously rightly for them to dictate the timescale. I don't have a set period but obviously we want it to be as soon as possible.
The spokesman also said the inquiry would be "an independent process carried out by Cabinet Office staff, under the leadership of the cabinet secretary".
13:21
PMQs - snap verdict
Apologies are one of the most underrated devices in politics. It is convention to argue that apologising is a sign of weaknesss, but people don't expect politicians to get everything right, they know we all make mistakes, and if used sincerely (a big if – we'll come back to it in a moment) they can wipe the slate clean, restore trust and provide a bit of a reset.
Today Johnson opened with a very full apology for the behaviour of his staff caught on film laughing about a lockdown-busting party. It probably won him some credit with his backbenchers, and it made the subsequent exchanges a bit easier than they otherwise would have been. The other obvious option (see 9.38am) would have been a lot worse.
But that is about as much as can be said for his ploy, because it failed the sincerity/credibility test. This morning I suggested that Johnson could either own up and apologise, or blame others for something of which he was not aware. At PMQs he combined both approaches. His apology was of the Irish famine variety; what happened was awful, and he apologises unreservedly, but that apology is divorced from responsibility, because others were to blame. On responsibility, he clearly implied that he had sought reassurances about no rules being broken, and had been given them. He also announced an inquiry, which may well allow him to report in the future that, "alas", he was misled. Junior heads may well have to roll.
The problem with this, of course, is that the notion that Johnson (the most anti-lockdown, rule-averse member of the government) was being kept in the dark about lockdown-busting partying by dozens of staffers fearful of his response is implausible. Starmer made this point very effectively, with humour and moral force. He even managed to pray in aid the Queen.
Her Majesty the Queen sat alone when she marked the passing of the man she'd been married to for 73 years. Leadership, sacrifice – that's what gives leaders the moral authority to lead. Does the prime minister think he has the moral authority to lead and to ask the British people to stick to the rules?
Afterwards, during points of order, a Tory MP complained about this reference to the Queen, who is normally not discussed during parliamentary proceedings. The Speaker gave him short shrift, and the exchange suggests Starmer struck a nerve.
Johnson made things worse for himself by accusing Starmer of playing politics with the issue. He would have been better off just repeating the apology line six times, but by his third response to Starmer he seemed to have had enough of apologising and instead brought up the "playing politics" charge. Even at the best of times this is a feeble political attack line (it only ever impresses ultra-partisans, who will back you anyway) and on a day when Johnson seems to be planning a cat massacre on a scale so blatant even his backbenchers have noticed (see 11.18am and 12.40pm), it seemed even less appropriate.
Updated
12:50
Christopher Chope (Con) asks if the Speaker will allow an urgent question to be tabled, for answer today, if the government does not offer a ministerial statement on the move to plan B.
Hoyle says he will look into whether this is possible. He says he hopes the government will offer a statement.
Ministerial statments normally come early during Commons proceedings, after questions, but it is possible for one to take place much later. That may well happen today.
12:47
Speaker says it would be 'very, very offensive' for government to announce plan B at press conference, not to MPs
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, makes a point of order. He asks about reports that the government will announce plan B at a press conference this afternoon, and says MPs should be told first.
Hoyle says the government has not said it wants to make a Commons statement.
But he says statements should be made in this chamber first. He says he finds it "very, very offensive" when the government makes announcements outside the chamber first. The government should respect its own backbenchers; he does, even if the government doesn't. He says he hopes this message has been heard.
12:44
PMQs is over, but on a point of order Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says there have now been reports of three parties at Downing Street last winter, including one in the PM's flat. He asks what can be done to make sure the PM takes responsibility.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says Blackford has made its point.
12:42
Rosena Allin-Khan (Lab) says she has been working in A&E during the pandemic, and been in tears. How can the PM sleep at night?
Johnson says he knows how difficult it has been for people. He says he takes responsibility for everything the government has done.
12:40
Tory MP William Wragg says announcing plan B would be 'diversionary tactic'
William Wragg (Con) says there are media reports of a cabinet meeting and press conference this afternoon to announce plan B, without reference to MPs. He says Covid passes (a plan B measure) will create a segregated society. He says "very few will be convinced by this diversionary tactic".
Johnson says no decision will be taken without the cabinet being consulted.
Updated
12:37
Johnson confirms UK will stage diplomtic boycott of Winter Olympics
Iain Duncan Smith (Con) says the PM's answer on the Winter Olympics was not strong enough. Will the UK follow the US, the Australians and the Lithuanians and make a diplomatic boycott of these games?
Johnson says there will effectively be a diplomatic boycott for the Winter Olympics. No minister or officials will attend.
But he does not support sporting boycotts, he says (meaning athletes will attend).
12:34
Johnson says cyberflashing will be addressed in the online harms bill.
12:34
Jack Dromey (Lab) refers to a constituent whose father and sister died from Covid. She is devastated by what happened in No 10. She wants to know if trust still matter in politics.
Johnson says it does.
Christmas Penis Decoration Johnson County
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2021/dec/08/covid-coronavirus-uk-boris-johnson-christmas-party-uk-politics-live