Party Time

Perusing social media this morning, I came upon a clip of the disgraced former prime minister Boris Johnson, with his wife Carrie, leaving Downing Street for the last time. Given that Johnson was forced out of the job in disgrace and is generally accepted to be the worst PM of all time, his rousing departure was somewhat jarring. It was as if to the people working in Number 10 were saying farewell to a hero of our times. Then I read a tweet from Jessica Simor, a prominent QC. It went:

“Watch this to understand the parties….”

I did and now I do. Of course, I do. Police investigated 12 parties on eight dates and issued 126 fines to 53 women and 73 men in and around Downing Street, including the then prime minister and chancellor. It was the most lawless street in the land and today it is entirely possible, or even probable, that many of these lawbreakers were lining up and giving a fond and exuberant farewell to the most prominent lawbreaker of them all. Doubtless, suitcases of booze will be arriving in the next few hours.

Of course, none of this is remotely amusing. Johnson and his staff partied relentlessly when the rest of us were sticking to the rules he himself had imposed. People were saying goodbye to dying relatives via Zoom and watching funerals the same way while at the same time laughing at the rest of us. And today, they were partying again as the man who presided over a death toll in excess of 200,000 people finally left office. Having lost a close family member and several friends and acquaintances to Covid, attending one sparsely attended funeral and not even being able to attend the others, my contempt for Johnson and his staff only grows stronger.

There is only one thing Johnson believes in: Johnson. It has always been about him. His successful campaign to lead the UK out of Europe was based not upon any principled opposition to Europe: it was a means to become prime minister. He is a Conservative only in name. There is no philosophy, no belief in anything; just raw ambition and the ruthlessness to get what he wants. A liar, a serial adulterer, a shyster, a huckster and a fraud. Millions bought into it and many still do. If Johnson had been on the ballot paper to elect the new Tory leader, he’d be in Balmoral this morning, not to quit being PM but to become our new one.

Johnson is an awful human being without a single saving grace. People who still support him should give their heads a big wobble. And the Number 10 party animals: how come they still have jobs? If I’d behaved like they did when I was a civil servant, I’d have been sacked on the spot. And quite right too.