Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak To Be Fined Over Lockdown Parties

Police have been investigating 12 gatherings at Johnson’s Downing Street office and the Cabinet Office after an inquiry found his staff had enjoyed alcohol-fuelled parties.

London: Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his finance minister Rishi Sunak are to receive fines for breaching strict coronavirus lockdown rules, the government said on Tuesday, prompting calls for them both to resign.

Police have been investigating 12 gatherings at Johnson’s Downing Street office and the Cabinet Office after an inquiry found his staff had enjoyed alcohol-fuelled parties.

The British leader said he had attended a few of the events, but has always denied knowingly committing any wrongdoing.

“The prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer have today received notification that the Metropolitan Police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices,” a government spokesperson said.

“We have no further details, but we will update you again when we do.”

A spokesperson for Johnson’s wife Carrie said she would also be fined.

Some of the gatherings took place when people could not attend funerals or say farewell to loved ones dying in hospital because they were following rules set by Johnson’s government.

After the events were first reported in late 2021, Johnson said there were no parties and that all rules were followed.

He later apologised to parliament for attending one event, which he said he thought was work-related and also said sorry to Queen Elizabeth for another at which staff partied on the eve of her husband’s funeral.

‘Must resign’

Opponents said he and Sunak had misled parliament and must quit.

“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public. They must both resign,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party.

The Liberal Democrats called for parliament to be recalled immediately from its Easter holiday and for there to be a vote of no-confidence in Johnson.

However, the prime minister’s immediate future will be determined by lawmakers in his own Conservative Party, who can trigger a leadership challenge if 54 of the 360 who sit in parliament demand a confidence vote.

Earlier this year a number of Conservatives called for him to quit as public trust plummeted over the “partygate” affair and support for the government shrank. But the initial outcry was dampened by the Ukraine war in which Johnson had sought to play a major role in rallying Western nations against Russia.

The news caps a terrible week for Sunak, who had also told parliament he had not attended any parties.

He has been under fire over his personal finances, his wife’s tax arrangements and the disclosure he only gave up a US “green card” – an immigration status intended for permanent US residents – after he became finance minister in 2020.

On Sunday, he asked Johnson to refer his ministerial declarations to Christopher Geidt, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, to determine whether he had stuck to the rules on financial declarations.

That came after his wife Akshata Murty, owns about 0.9% of Indian IT giant Infosys, confirmed that she had non-domiciled tax status, meaning she did not pay tax on earnings from outside Britain. She said she would pay British tax on foreign income on Friday after days of criticism.

The announcement from Johnson’s office came hours after the police said they had made more than 50 referrals for fixed penalty notices, or fines, to those who had attended the illegal gatherings at Downing Street or other government offices.

“We are making every effort to progress this investigation at speed, this includes continuing to assess significant amounts of investigative material from which further referrals may be made,” police said in a statement.

(Reuters)

UK: Boris Johnson Polling Is Now So Bad That Conservative MPs Should Ditch Him

Support for the Conservatives has been nosediving in the polls following the scandal over gatherings held in Downing Street during pandemic lockdowns.

Things just keep getting worse for Boris Johnson. On the same day that one of his MPs defected to the Labour party, former Brexit minister David Davis stood up in parliament to call for Johnson’s resignation.

The voices calling for the prime minister’s departure are mounting. If 54 letters of no-confidence in him are sent to the backbench 1922 Committee, a leadership contest will be triggered. Many members of Johnson’s party will therefore be calculating whether such a move against him is the right course of action. Central to this thinking will be whether continuing with Johnson as leader would cost them their seat in the next election.

Support for the Conservatives has been nosediving in the polls following the scandal over gatherings held in Downing Street during pandemic lockdowns. We can learn something about how concerned Conservative MPs should be by looking at polling over the last ten years or so – specifically the voting intentions for Labour and the Conservatives since the general election of 2010.

Voting Intentions for Labour and the Conservatives, 2010-22

Charting support across recent elections. Chart: P Whiteley

Not surprisingly general elections have a big impact on support for the two major parties. The Conservatives were boosted by Labour’s defeat in 2010, although they did not get an overall majority in that election.

Again in 2015, support for the party increased during the run-up to the election, but on this occasion, David Cameron did win an overall majority – largely by decimating the voter base of the Conservatives’ coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats. Boris Johnson did very much better than his predecessors when he faced his own election in December 2019. He moved well ahead of Labour in the polls to win an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons.

However, the more striking feature in the chart is the effect of the European parliamentary elections of May 2019, near the end of Theresa May’s premiership. It produced a massive loss of support for both of the two main parties. Their popularity ratings fell dramatically from the start of that year and the outcome was grim for both.

Labour came third and lost ten seats and the Conservatives came fifth and lost 15 seats. Of course, the last European parliamentary elections were not as important as general elections and the turnout was low. That said, support for the two major parties collapsed on that occasion.

The outcome of the European elections was a direct product of the turmoil and polarisation caused by Brexit, both in parliament and in the country. This crisis was triggered in turn by the loss of the Conservative majority in the 2017 general election. That election was the clear exception to the pattern of Conservative leaders improving their performance in relation to seats won in the House of Commons since 2010. The conclusion from the 2019 European election results is that major political crises have large effects on polling support and voting.

This is relevant to the present situation since the plunging support for the Conservatives in recent polls is comparable to that which occurred in the European parliamentary elections. In June 2019, the month after those elections, voting intentions for Theresa May’s party hit 22%. In the most recent YouGov poll completed on January 13 2022, the Conservatives received 29%. Since the turn of the year the party’s support has fallen like a stone.

However, there is an important difference between support for the two major parties in the run-up to the European parliamentary elections and at the present time. In 2019 Labour’s voting intentions fell as sharply as the Conservatives, whereas now it is rising rather rapidly. The recent YouGov poll put the party on 40% in vote intentions.

The government may have made “partygate” even worse in its attempts at damage limitation. Downing Street has embarked on what has been referred to as the “red meat” strategy.

This involves announcing right-wing populist policies such as attacks on the BBC, restrictions on the right to protest and hints that the Royal Navy will be used to deal with illegal immigration across the channel. In each case, the aim is to appease angry backbench MPs and distract the voting public. The calculation is that this may be enough to keep Johnson in Downing Street until the media frenzy moves on.

The problem with this strategy is that it is trashing the Tory brand among the large numbers of voters who are not attracted by right-wing populism. This is likely to reinforce the view among this group that Johnson is not fit to govern. They will be very difficult to woo back into supporting the party if he stays in after the media storm has subsided. A sharp move to the right, possibly followed by an equally sharp move to the centre (where most voters are located) once the storm subsides is likely to weaken the government’s credibility even more.

If Johnson is not replaced by a new leader, backbench Conservative MPs would be well advised to start brushing up their CVs in preparation for life after Westminster.

Paul Whiteley, professor, Department of Government, University of Essex.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson: The Jester Takes the Throne

Parliamentarians and party members have held their noses and voted in a man deeply unsuited to lead. Now the British public must live with their choice.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, to paraphrase Shakespeare. Heavy because power brings with it responsibilities that are not to be taken lightly – jaunty laughter, bluff and bluster will quickly fall upon the rocks of political reality.

Britain is doomed. It has allowed the court jester to take the throne.

Too harsh? I think not. Too partisan? Not at all.

The tragedy of this tale is that the idea of Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, walking into Number 10 also fills me with a sense of doom and gloom.

There is a common assumption that, one way or another, Boris Johnson’s promotion will lead to an early general election, in which case the great British public will enjoy a simple choice – chaos with a blond bouffant, or disaster in cycling clips. Just mark your ballot with a grubby little pencil that’s tied to an even grubbier piece of string.

Why do I sense that large numbers of people won’t bother to engage with such a dismal decision?

Heavy are the heads of the party members who voted for the jester. Heavy because it is they who must take some responsibility. Charisma, celebrity stardust and Churchillian quips are not enough, and when all goes wrong (note “when” not “if”) it will be to the Conservative party that the nation turns and asks: “What have you done?”

Also read: Boris Johnson Set to Be UK’s New Prime Minister

Can there ever have been a man more ill-suited to high public office? Take this insider verdict, for example: “That he’s a habitual liar, a cheat, a conspirator with a criminal pal to have an offending journalist’s ribs broken, a cruel betrayer of the women he seduces, a politician who connived in a bid for a court order to suppress mention of a daughter he fathered, a do-nothing mayor of London and the worst foreign secretary in living memory.”

Too harsh? I think not. Too partisan? Not at all. This is, in fact, the view of a former Conservative MP – Matthew Parris.

Heavy are the heads that held their tongues and lined up behind the jester. “Ministerial-itis” – as Gerald Kaufman famously explained – is a particularly dangerous disease. The desire for advancement among backbenchers can corrupt even the most sensible member.

Faustian pact

The ministerial ladder has always been smothered in grease – and it has generally been the prime minister doing the smothering. Ministerial wannabees suggest that the extra risk that comes with Johnson was “priced in” to their decision to support him. Wake up, you fools, from your sleepy slumber! Bargaining with Boris is a Faustian pact you can only ever lose.

Heavy are the heads that held the jester’s hand and led him to the throne. You held him back, shut his mouth and tamed his hair. You knew that the biggest threat to Boris was Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and you saved him from himself. He waved a kipper as you sold a kipper; and it’s the British public who will now pay the price.

Democratic politics really is the slow boring of hard wood. It is dull and exhausting, based on delegation and compromise. It is slow and steady, it’s about listening more than talking, it’s about emotional intelligence and a moral compass, and founded on trust, not humour. It’s not a joke, no laughing matter. It demands the conscientious absorption of detail. Can you spot the problem?

The truth is that the jester has ridden on many backs on his way to the throne. But the ride is now over. He’s achieved his ambition. From now on he will live or die on the basis of his own political skill and cunning.

The only good thing about prime minister Johnson is that he has nowhere to hide. The ice is very thin beneath the throne and leadership can be a very lonely business.

Matthew Flinders, Founding Director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics, University of Sheffield

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Incoming British PM Johnson on Iran, Trump, Huawei and the Economy

Former foreign minister Boris Johnson was elected leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party and will take over as prime minister when Theresa May steps down on Wednesday.

London: Former foreign minister Boris Johnson was elected leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party on Tuesday, and will take over as prime minister when Theresa May steps down on Wednesday.

With the leadership campaign largely dominated by Brexit, Johnson has set out little in the way of firm policies, but below are some of his positions on key issues:

Iran: 

Johnson has said while the 2015 nuclear deal is looking “increasingly frail” and ways need to be found to constrain Iran‘s “disruptive behaviour”, engaging with the Iranians and seeking to persuade them not to pursue a nuclear weapons programme is the right way forward.

He has so far shown little sign of moving closer to U..President Donald Trump‘s more hardline approach, instead saying he agreed with the position taken by European countries to encourage a return to diplomacy. He has said he would not currently back military action.

“I am not going to pretend that the mullahs of Tehran are easy people to deal with or that they are anything other than a disruptive, dangerous, difficult regime, they certainly are,” he said during a leadership debate earlier this month.

“But … if you asked me whether I think we should now, were I to be prime minister now, would I be supporting military action against Iran? Then the answer is no.”

Also read: Do Voters Have a Right to Protection Against Politicians’ False Claims?

Hong Kong: 

As protests erupted in the former British colony earlier this month over a proposed extradition bill, and a war of words ensued between Britain and China, Johnson told Reuters the people of Hong Kong were “within their rights to be very sceptical, very anxious” about the legislation.

“I do support them and I will happily speak up for them and back them every inch of the way. And I would stress to our friends in Beijing that the one country, two systems approach has worked, is working and should not be cast aside,” he said.

Huawei: 

A final decision on whether to include China’s Huawei in Britain’s 5G telecoms network has been stalled by May stepping down. Johnson has said while there can be significant benefits to investment from other countries, he would not compromise Britain’s national security infrastructure.

“You would not expect me as prime minister to do anything to compromise the ability of our fantastic intelligence services to share information as they do, particularly with our five eyes partners, so that is the principle that will guide us.”

Relationship with the US:

Johnson is keen to maintain a strong relationship with the US and British media have reported he is considering a visit to meet Trump early in his premiership.

His reluctance to antagonise Trump was evident earlier this month when he failed to defend Britain’s ambassador to Washington after diplomatic memos in which Kim Darroch described Trump‘s administration as “inept” were leaked to a newspaper.

Instead, Johnson said he had a good relationship with the White House and it was “very important that we should have a close friendship, a close partnership with the US”.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attends the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland June 18, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

Johnson has since said Darroch told him the lacklustre support was a factor in his decision to resign.

During a leadership debate, Johnson did criticise Trump for his comments about four congresswomen but declined to describe the remarks as racist.

“If you are the leader of great multi-racial, multi-cultural society you simply cannot use that kind of language about sending people back to where they came from, that went out decades and decades ago and thank heavens for that so it is totally unacceptable,” he said.

The economy: 

Johnson has vowed to spend billions of pounds on public services, infrastructure and tax cuts including promises to increase spending on education, transport, super fast broadband and police and end a public sector pay freeze.

He has said he will tap into the 27 billion pounds of “fiscal headroom” that has built up in the public finances, referring to the difference between the government’s target for the budget deficit and its projected size.

“Believe me there is cash now available … I’m prepared to borrow to finance certain great objectives but overall we will keep fiscal responsibility,” he said.

British media have reported he is preparing an emergency budget including aggressive tax cuts, an overhaul of the stamp duty property tax and an assault on regulation if there is a no-deal Brexit.

During Johnson’s time as mayor of London, he championed financial services but has been trying to rebuild ties with company executives after an expletive against business.

Tax Cuts:

Johnson has said there is room to make tax cuts and has pledged to raise the level at which the higher rate of income tax is paid. He also wants to raise the threshold at which people start to pay National Insurance.

“We should be raising thresholds of income tax – so that we help the huge numbers that have been captured in the higher rate by fiscal drag. We can go for much greater economic growth – and still be the cleanest, greenest society on earth,” he said.

He has also said Britain should cut business taxes but has indicated internet giants could be forced to pay more.

“It’s deeply unfair that high street businesses are paying tax through the nose … whereas the internet giants, the FAANGs – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google – are paying virtually nothing,” he said.

(Reuters)

Boris Johnson Set to Be UK’s New Prime Minister

His victory catapults the UK towards a Brexit showdown with the EU and towards a constitutional crisis at home.

London: Boris Johnson, the ebullient Brexiteer who has promised to lead Britain out of the EU with or without a deal by Halloween, will replace Theresa May as prime minister after winning the leadership of the Conservative Party on Tuesday.

His victory catapults the UK towards a Brexit showdown with the EU and towards a constitutional crisis at home, as British lawmakers have vowed to bring down any government that tries to leave the bloc without a divorce deal.

Johnson, the face of the 2016 Brexit referendum, won the votes of 92,153 members of the Conservative party, to 46,656 for his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

May will leave office on Wednesday after going to Buckingham Palace to see Queen Elizabeth, who will formally appoint Johnson before he enters Downing Street.

The result is a spectacular victory for one of Britain’s most flamboyant politicians, and places an avowed Brexit supporter in charge of the government for the first time since the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in the shock 2016 referendum.

But Johnson – known for his ambition, mop of blonde hair, flowery oratory and cursory command of policy detail – takes office at one of the most tumultuous junctures in post-World War Two British history.

Also read: UK Minister Quits Before Johnson Becomes PM, Denounces Brexit

Divided Kingdom

The 2016 Brexit referendum showed a United Kingdom divided about much more than the EU, and has fuelled soul-searching about everything from regional secession and immigration to capitalism, the legacy of empire, and modern Britishness.

Brexit, which has already toppled two Conservative prime ministers, will dominate.

Johnson has pledged to negotiate a new Brexit divorce deal with the EU to secure before October 31. But if the bloc refuses, as it insists it will, he has promised to leave anyway – “do or die” – on Halloween.

It is a step that many investors and economists say would send shock waves through world markets and tip the world’s fifth-largest economy into recession or even chaos.

A Brexit without a divorce deal would also weaken London’s position as the pre-eminent international financial centre while jolting the northern European economy.

Johnson‘s Conservatives have no majority in parliament and need the support of 10 lawmakers from Northern Ireland’s Brexit-backing Democratic Unionist Party to govern.

Even then, the majority is wafer-thin – and some lawmakers have threatened to bring down the government, a step that would probably deepen Britain’s political crisis and lead to an election.

(Reuters)

Will Women Be the Worst Hit by Brexit?

In the event the UK economy took a hard hit, job losses would be inevitable especially in sectors reliant on trade with the EU where the majority of the workforce is female.


The economic impact of Brexit has been explored far and wide. But with the October 31 deadline approaching and a no-deal scenario still very much on the cards, could it affect women disproportionately?

First off, a disclaimer: Given the uncertainty over the type of Brexit, or what, if any, trade agreements the UK manages to reach with the EU, it’s difficult to assess precisely what the impact will be for women as workers, consumers and public service users.

However, what is beyond dispute is that trade agreements can have different effects on different groups of men and women based on economic status, caring responsibilities and power.

“Women are particularly vulnerable to changes in trading arrangements, whether it’s greater liberalisation or more restrictions on trade, because it’s harder for women to take advantage of new opportunities and they’re more vulnerable to a negative impact,” says Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, director of the UK Women’s budget group, and co-author of a study on the economic impact of Brexit on women.

“They are less mobile than men, and have lower levels of capital,” she told DW.

A public disservice for women

The study found that in the event of the UK economy taking a hard hit, job losses would be inevitable, especially in those sectors reliant on trade with the EU, such as clothing and textiles, where the majority of the workforce is female.

The same applies to health and social care, which are also female-dominated sectors. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has already seen an exodus of EU staff who are concerned about their future in a post-Brexit economy, and there are fears that trend may continue.

Indeed, public services are one crucial area where the economic impact of Brexit is likely to have the most negative effect on women.

Anti-Brexit protesters stand outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Photo: Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Under all Brexit scenarios, British gross domestic product is expected to take a hammering. That, in turn, will very likely result in further cuts to government spending, and that, in turn, will affect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, many of whom are women.

“Women are the majority of those who work in public services, and they use public services more than men both for themselves and for family members they’re responsible for,” says Stephenson. “They’re also most likely to have to increase unpaid work when public services are cut. We see that with the crisis in social care that it’s more likely to be women who are reducing their working hours or trying to squeeze in unpaid care work around paid work.”

Protecting women’s rights

Currently, employment rights that protect equality and workplace rights for women in the UK are underpinned by EU legislation and are unlikely to disappear overnight if and when the UK leaves the EU. However, as Stephenson points out, the “EU provides the security that [UK] governments can’t reduce those rights.”

The hard-line Brexiteers, she says, “are also those most in favour of what they call ‘removing red tape,’ which means removing rights to protection during pregnancy and maternity leave, part-time workers’ rights. All of the things that women have benefited from over the years as a result of EU membership.”

Lucy Harris, director of the Leavers of Britain group and MEP for the Brexit Party, rubbishes claims that the EU is a beacon for women’s rights. She says that Brexit will enable the UK to introduce new, progressive laws for British women.

Pro-Brexit supporters burn an EU flag during a UKIP demonstration. Photo: Reuters/Dylan Martinez

“I voted Brexit because I believe laws should be tailored to those they directly affect,” she told the Thompson Reuters Foundation. “When we bring back our sovereignty, it empowers women, such as myself, to be able to make decisions that protect my rights.”

Then again, there’s nothing in the EU rule book that has prevented women in the UK doing just that.

Also read: UK’s PM Candidate Boris Johnson Intends to Cut Taxes 

Long-term plan?

Joanna Williams, a member of Briefings for Brexit, a platform for pro-leave businesspeople and academics, has rejected negative forecasts. Instead, she points to rising wages and employment, also among women, since the referendum. “We can predict doom, but the reality is telling us a different story,” she told the Thompson Reuters Foundation.

However, Stephenson is quick to dismiss those who say that merely asking whether Brexit would disproportionately affect women is divisive.

“Three years on it is becoming increasingly clear that those who wanted to leave the European Union had no plan,” she says. “Most of them seem to be displaying a level of ignorance about even understanding the basics of how trade deals work, which is quite terrifying really. I don’t see how it can be divisive to say: actually, these are the likely impacts.”

This article was originally published on DW.

UK’s Conservative Party Faces Historically Worst Election Result in Brexit Crisis

A Yougov poll showed that voters appear to be abandoning the Conservatives and Labour Parties, which have been trying to offer some sort of compromise on Brexit.

London: British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party would suffer its worst general election result if a vote were held now, according to an opinion poll, as voters frustrated with the deadlock over Brexit rejected the main political parties.

The Conservatives, one of the most successful parties in the western world, would slump to third place in a nationwide vote with 19%, its lowest place since the party was founded almost 200 years ago, the YouGov poll for The Times newspaper showed.

The main opposition Labour Party, which is led by socialist Jeremy Corbyn and has been pushing for a softer version of Brexit, would also finish third with 19% of the vote, its worst performance since 1918, according to the poll.

The main beneficiaries of the swing against the two main parties would be the political parties that took unequivocal positions for or against Brexit. Voters appear to be abandoning the Conservatives and Labour, which in their own ways have been trying to offer some sort of compromise on Brexit.

The Liberal Democrats, which has campaigned on a straightforward demand for a new referendum, aiming to reverse Brexit, would emerge as the largest political party with 24% of the vote, the poll showed.

The next largest party would be Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which has only existed for a few months and supports a clean break with the European Union, with 22% of the vote.

The results underscore the growing polarisation of British politics, pointing to yet more uncertainty after the country was thrust into its biggest political crisis since World War Two, when voters opted in a referendum to leave the EU in 2016.

The United Kingdom was supposed to have left on March 29 but it remains a member of the EU and its politicians are still arguing over how, when or even whether the country will leave the club it joined in 1973.

May was forced to resign as prime minister last week after three years of trying but failing to pull Britain out of the EU, setting off a contest among lawmakers to replace her.

The Conservatives have ruled alone or in coalition for 63 years in the last century. The party, founded in 1834, has never finished outside the top two parties in a nationwide vote.

No-deal Brexit?

Leading candidates to become Britain’s next prime minister have said Britain should be ready to leave the EU with no withdrawal deal at all – a move opposed by a majority in parliament and one that the Bank of England has said could be akin to the 1970s oil shock.

One of the candidates, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said it would be “political suicide” to pursue a no-deal Brexit, a reprimand to front-runner Boris Johnson who said last week that Britain should leave with or without a deal by the end of October.

The Confederation of British Industry, Britain’s main lobby group for business, wrote an open letter to the leadership candidates on Thursday evening, warning them they will forfeit the right to be regarded as the leader of the party of business if they fail to secure a Brexit deal.

Labour has since edged closer to a position that could make it possible to call off Brexit, but has stopped short of calling for a new referendum in all circumstances and has said a general election is its preferred outcome.

Britain’s next national election is not due until 2022 although one could be called earlier in certain circumstances such as if a motion of no confidence in the government is passed by a simple majority.

(Reuters)