How Queen put Boris Johnson to shame over ‘partygate’ by setting lockdown example at Prince Philip’s funeral – Bill Carmichael

Yet the national obsession is whether the Prime Minister ate a piece of cake on his birthday more than 18 months ago.

All this poses the question – are we a serious country any more?

‘Denials, deceptions and arrogance’: Why people will never forgive Boris Johnson for ‘partygate’ lies – Tom Richmond

I share the public’s fury at what has gone on in Westminster over recent months. If you stuck to the rules, perhaps at the cost of not sharing a loved one’s precious last moments, you have every right to be angry over various parties attended by Boris Johnson, his advisers and senior civil servants.

It is clear that the Westminster elite who imposed the restrictions believed they only applied to the little people, and not to them. This is a culture that has to change. Our leaders are elected to be servants of the people, not to lord it over us like Bourbon kings.

I can’t help thinking of the Queen, who was offered an exemption to the rules so she could be comforted by her family at the funeral of her husband of more than 70 years.

She turned it down because similar exemptions were not on offer to ordinary people. She was shown in a heart-breaking image sitting alone in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Not for the first time Queen Elizabeth decided to share in her people’s suffering, rather than take the easy way out.

If our politicians and civil servants want to know the true meaning of public service they could do no better than to take a leaf out of that good lady’s book.

Meanwhile, we wait for civil servant Sue Gray’s report on various gatherings in Westminster. It is a pity Samuel Beckett is no longer with us because he could have written an existential classic play in which absolutely nothing happens – Waiting for Sue Gray.

When the report finally lands, and the Metropolitan Police’s investigation is complete, if there is any evidence that the Prime Minister deliberately misled Parliament then I am afraid he simply has to go.

Perhaps that would not be a bad thing, because the big problem with what has inevitably been called “partygate” is that it is paralysing the Government at the precise moment when we cannot afford for that to happen.

Russia could strike in Ukraine any day now, and when that happens the response from Western governments will be absolutely crucial.

Yet US President Joe Biden appears to be in such a state of clear cognitive decline that he inadvertently gave 
the Russians the green light for an invasion in a disastrous speech last 
week.

Germany, meanwhile, is so heavily reliant on imported gas for its energy supplies that it has gone soft on Russian aggression, and the EU will be as completely useless as the EU always is.

All this means that it could be left to the UK to lead and galvanise the West’s response.

We need a laser-like focus on maintaining peace in Europe, and “partygate” is distracting from that.

And although the Omicron variant of Covid appears to be past its peak, who knows what further variants may appear in the future.

The vaccine and booster programme, and the decision to resist calls for 
further lockdowns, have put the UK in a strong position, and Boris Johnson and his Government deserve every credit for that. But we need to be ready to react quickly if the disease rears its ugly head again.

Last, but not least, is the cost of living crisis. My energy supplier contacted me this week to warn me my monthly bill is likely to rise by more than £60 a month from April – an enormous bite out of my disposable income.

I wonder how poorer people will possibly cope. It would be good to have the Government giving some thought to how to alleviate the misery of fuel poverty.

So all in all, the Government has a lot on its plate at the moment and “partygate” is getting in the way of a properly focused response.

We need a Government that can concentrate all its energies on maintaining the peace, security and wellbeing of the British people. And if that means Boris Johnson has to go, then so be it.

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