Downing Street’s lies over lockdown cheese and wine parties insult us all as new Boris Johnson photos emerge – The Yorkshire Post says

Either way, this undermines trust still further in the Prime Minister when he’s expecting families, once more, to sacrifice some of their Christmas plans for a second year due to Covid.

How we can protect Yorkshire from Omicron – Dr Mike Gent

If only Mr Johnson, and his inner circle, possessed the integrity to honour Margaret Thatcher’s maxim; namely that governments should observe – and also be seen to observe – their own rules.

For, if Downing Street had done so, rather than following the reckless example set by the PM’s ex-aide Dominic Cummings over that infamous lockdown trip to Barnard Castle, it would not find itself so compromised over the Omicron variant.

And it is the false denials – and the forced removal of Cabinet Secretary Simon Case from the official inquiry because of his presence at an event in the spotlight – that is just as galling as the frivolous culture at a time of crisis.

It was epitomised by Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, when he tried to describe the Downing Street cheese and wine garden party in lockdown as a ‘business meeting’ because Mr Johnson was attired in a suit.

With respect, both Mr Raab, and then the Tory leader last night, must be delusional if they believe this to be the case when the PM was photographed sitting alongside his then fiancée Carrie, now his wife, and their eldest child with two bottles of red wine – and glasses – on the adjacent table.

Britain would have been better served if Downing Street admitted its lockdown indiscretions in the first instance. That it did not is damning on how standards in public life have fallen as Mr Johnson becomes embattled on multiple fronts – and often through his own fault.

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