[Cyclist]

Is this true? Or is the BBC News Department in even worse shape than I thought

[Oboogie]

Is this true? Or is the BBC News Department in even worse shape than I thought

I can't see anything wrong with it. What am I missing?

[Cyclist]

The words "Prime Minister" and "apologises" don't seem to belong in the same sentence.

[Boiler]

Is this true? Or is the BBC News Department in even worse shape than I thought

It's true. He's asking the Cabinet Secretary to look into it.

Nicked from the BBC live feed:

Boris Johnson began by apologising for the video of No 10 staff "making light" of Covid rules
But he repeated that there was no party and no Covid rules were broken
However, he says that the Cabinet Secretary will be asked to look into the matter
That was not enough for the Labour leader, who said the prime minister's apology raised "more questions than answers" after a week of denials from No 10
He said that I'm a Celebrity TV hosts Ant and Dec - who mocked the prime minister last night - were ahead of Johnson on the matter
Starmer then brought up the example of Trisha Greenhalgh whose mother died after becoming ill with Covid around the time of the Downing Street party
The prime minister responded by accusing Starmer of "playing politics" and said the government was focusing on the roll out of the vaccines "not the events of a year ago"
Starmer said the claims over conduct at Downing Street undermined the prime minister's credibility in the face of a new Covid variant
Johnson accused the opposition leader of having "muddied the waters" during the pandemic and once again says everyone should get their booster jab when called forward

(sorry about the formatting)

Also:

Conservative MP William Wragg uses his question to take a dig at the prime minister.

He points to media reports that the government could be preparing to move to its Plan B for Covid measures, including the introduction of mandatory vaccine passports for venues.

Wragg says the passports "will not increase the uptake of the vaccine, but will create a segregated society".

He then asks if the PM is aware that "very few will be convinced by this diversionary tactic?"

After a loud "oooooh" from MPs, Johnson merely says: "No decisions will be taken without consulting the cabinet."

[Oboogie]

The words "Prime Minister" and "apologises" don't seem to belong in the same sentence.

Point taken.
But he did apologise for the video in which his press office staff discussed what lies to tell to cover up the party which, he said, didn't happen and, if it did, it jolly well didn't break any rules, even though the rules prohibited having parties.

He did neglect to apologise for the rule breaking and the repeated lying about it by himself and other ministers.

[Boiler]

There seems to be a narrative forming of "this was a year ago so it's irrelevant, let's focus on now".

[Boiler]

He did neglect to apologise for the rule breaking and the repeated lying about it by himself and other ministers.

Isn't one of the defences being posited that as a 'party', which may or may not have occurred, was held on Crown property it was exempt from the rules? That would of course be electoral suicide and bring forth the accusations of "one rule for them..." thick and fast.

[Samanfur]

According to Blackford's Point of Order after PMQs, it was three parties, including one in the PM's Downing Street flat.

Hoyle visibly fuming when addressing several Points of Order about this alleged press conference later.

That blatant swipe from Wragg (and thinly veiled one from IDS) makes me think that the 1922 Committee is on the war path.

I also need a gif of IDS' sudden change of expression when he noticed that the camera was on him during Johnson's answer.

[Samanfur]

Apologies for the double post, but:

[Boiler]

I also need a gif of IDS' sudden change of expression when he noticed that the camera was on him during Johnson's answer.

Sadly I can't see when that happened on the BBC Parliament coverage on iPlayer.

[Oboogie]

Apologies for the double post, but:

They've spent a week denying the party happened, they can't therefore confirm that someone wasn't at an event which, according to the liars, never occurred.

[Andy McDandy]

Isn't one of the defences being posited that as a 'party', which may or may not have occurred, was held on Crown property it was exempt from the rules? That would of course be electoral suicide and bring forth the accusations of "one rule for them..." thick and fast.

Which is why I think Starmer was very clever in (respectfully too - no sense in giving them an easy opening) bringing up the queen at Phil's funeral. You can't get much more crown estate than that.

[Abernathy]

The only person I see "playing politics" is Johnson - it is just a game to him.

Yes, I've been slightly puzzled by this accusation, thrown around, particularly by Johnson, but also by seemingly all politicians, for a while now. Surely politics is their business - it's what they all do. Why object to something they all do professionally ? It must therefore be the "playing" bit of the accusation that they seek to damn their opponents with.

There seems to be a suggestion that attempting to gain a political advantage - which after all, is the principal job of the opposition, and in fact also something that Johnson himself is perpetually seeking to do - is somehow not doing politics in a serious way or with a serious purpose in mind, but is a frivolous, time-wasting, irresponsible and execrable practice - merely "playing". This is obviously utter bollocks. Starmer isn't "playing" politics in any frivolous way - he is deadly serious. Particularly serious about removing this lying incompetent charlatan from government as soon as possible.

Labour politicians use the accusation too, though not as much as the Tories, but it seems to have a connection to the whole approach of Johnson and his government (Boiler has it right) - they are not serious people, serious about doing politics or governing the country well - they are incompetent shysters laughing up their sleeves (see Rees-Mogg, Stratton) at the great unwashed, who are governed by a different set of rules from them. Could this be why they view it as such a withering put-down ?

[Youngian]

‘Playing politics’ is a popular cliche with US Republicans to shut an issue down.

[Samanfur]

Stratton's resigned from her CoP26 role.

[Andy McDandy]

I tend to see it as an admission that something is really cutting through and they're bang to rights. It really doesn't amount to anything more than "please stop saying nasty things".

I get that the intended use of the phrase is to suggest the questioner is trying to make political advantage out of something so serious that it should unite all right-thinking people in finding a solution together, and sometimes that is true. When two sides are debating a tragic issue with repeated accusations of what the other side did or didn't do when they had the chance, it is a little tiresome.

But throughout this pandemic, like Brexit and so many other matters, this government has not adopted a collegiate, all the talents, national unity approach. They have single-handedly taken control of massive issues of national and international importance and blocked out not just anyone from any other party (save the DUP), but anyone within their own ranks who offered an unorthodox opinion.

As I said in another place about Brexit, the ramifications of leaving the EU were so huge that they couldn't really be entrusted to people working for short term domestic political advantage, especially when personal, constituency, party, legal and national obligations and ambitions were obviously going to collide. In retrospect, a body formed from a cross-section of politics, business, cultural organisations etc, and headed/fronted by someone with both gravitas and an image of being above short term politics - in other words, someone seen to be acting in the national interest - would have been better than what we got. Hell, we managed it for the Olympics.

At no point in the pandemic has the government attempted to engage with anyone outside its selected band of medical/scientific authorities*, and its chosen business partners. Remember the companies that could actually mass produce PPE shoved aside in favour of paper companies belonging to mates? Nadine Dorries shooting down offers of cross-party cooperation, saying that Labour lost the election so should shut up? The constant "watch your tone" messages to any (largely female) MP who dared criticise, however constructively, the government's approach? From the start, the message was "We know best, the rest of you do as we tell you or fuck off".

They're convinced that they have a right to rule. Sure, they have an electoral mandate, but they have long since stopped even pretending that they do anything in the national interest, as in for everyone and not just for those they like.

They're the ones playing politics, and they cannot possibly go quickly enough.

*"I know the President's chief scientific adviser; we were at MIT together. And trust me, in this situation you really don't want to be taking the advice of someone who got a C- in astrophysics." - Ronald Quincy (Jason Isaacs), Armageddon.

[Abernathy]

Stratton's resigned from her CoP26 role.

Inevitable - her position had become totally untenable. Just seen her tearful, self-pitying resignation statement. Disgraceful.

I used to rate her as a journalist, but she trashed her reputation for good when she took Johnson’s shilling. The leaked video was truly shocking.

[Crabcakes]

Stratton's resigned from her CoP26 role.

Yet another ally run over by one of Johnson's model buses.

[Dalem Lake]

Stratton's resigned from her CoP26 role.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but she appeared to do the grand sum of fuck all in that role anyway. I think she did one press conference and then just disappeared.

[Andy McDandy]

She managed it in the same way Cameron 'managed' his Oxford college May ball (according to Stewart Lee): get others to do all the work and pop your head round the door every so often* to tell everyone to keep up the good work.

*Not too often, don't want to get over-familiar with the staff.