Another party discovered in Downing Street: decisive hours for Johnson

This is what emerges from the investigations of the upright official Sue Gray

Sue Gray, the upright official who is investigating the Downing Street parties while in the rest of Britain people had to stay indoors for Covid, has had the registers of entrances and exits from the seat of government delivered. He would thus discover a tenth party, organized in the apartment of Prime Minister Boris Johnson by his wife Carrie. The Gray report will be delivered in days and many think it will be so devastating that Johnson will have to step down.

The registers are an important piece of evidence, because they not only identify who entered and exited using a magnetic card, but also indicate the time at which entry and exit took place. If about thirty people all arrive together in the evening and all go out together late at night, it is very likely that they have attended a party rather than a government meeting.

Sue Gray, say those who know her well, is very meticulous and is conducting the investigation as a Scotland Yard policeman would: assess name by name, position by position, and can find out if the guests were in Downing Street for a government meeting. or to have a few beers. Given the whatsapp that advised guests to bring a bottle, the second hypothesis is more likely.

In addition to the nine parties already under investigation, Gray is examining the arrival in Downing Street, right at Boris Johnson’s apartment, of some friends of his wife Carrie, who were certainly not there for a government meeting. If this meeting had really taken place, prohibited at the time by anti-Covid regulations, the premier’s position would become even more delicate: many members of the conservative party do not much like the wife of their leader, accused of guiding the choice from behind the scenes. (and often the removal) of her husband’s collaborators. It was she, for example, who asked for the head of Dominic Cummings, who is now taking revenge by denouncing the prime minister’s scandals and misdeeds one after the other.

Gray works with six experienced personnel management officers. Anonymous sources close to her say that if there are ministerial responsibilities she will denounce them by giving names and surnames, but that she will instead keep the names of the secondary officials involved secret, limiting themselves to reporting their behavior to the personnel offices of each department.

If Johnson were listed as responsible for the upbeat and illegal party habits in the government building, many conservatives who have not yet done so would send a letter to the 1922 Committee calling for a vote of no confidence in their leader. At least 54 letters are required to initiate the procedure provided by the Tory control body. About thirty have already arrived; those that are missing are ready, but will be sent only after reading the report and after having sounded the mood of the voters. In the British Parliament, MEPs are not called by their name, but by that of the constituency in which they were elected, because the bond of each individual member of parliament with their constituents is still very strong. And voter mood is bad, as the heavy election defeat of North Shropshire, a seat the Conservatives had held for two centuries, has already demonstrated.

Days ago, Conservative MP Christian Wakeford blatantly crossed the corridor between majority and opposition in Westminster and joined Labor. Many party members are fed up with Johnson not only for the parties in Downing Street, but also for the chaotic way in which he led the country, favoring the comeback of Labor who now have a substantial advantage in the polls, without having had need to do nothing to deserve it. If the 54 letters arrive, the premier will have to submit to the vote of his party, which will most likely be of no confidence. Wakeford told the “Observer“That Johnson is condemned:” If he hopes that Sue Gray’s report will save his life, then he is in shock. The decay has begun and many of my former colleagues have already come to the conclusion that he is not fit to lead the Conservative party. Not only because it is an electoral responsibility, but because in reality it is not suitable to govern the country ».