Boris Johnson is not a clown, he is the entire circus.

“On 19th June 2020 at the Cabinet Room 10 Downing Street between 1400 and 1500, [Boris Johnson] participated in a gathering of two or more people indoors in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street.”

I am going to start this article not with a scathing review of what has happened at No 10, or a deep dive into the legality of the aforementioned gathering, but a story. A story about me, you, and over 60 million people.

We stayed at home, dutifully, attempting to heed the Government's advice to "stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives". Key workers treated the ill, working 13 hour shifts in full PPE, with little to no breaks. Delivery drivers, trying their best to stay safe, while a pandemic raged all around us.

And yet, as millions made sacrifices, Downing Street partied.

They partied, not once, but so many times during the pandemic. A pandemic during which they wrote the rules. They were in charge, they set the rules, and they broke them.

At first, we were told that no parties had taken place. That got blown out of the water quite quickly when the infamous video emerged of a mock press briefing. Then, he maintained that no rules were broken. That got blown out of the water when the Met police started to investigate. Now, he has been fined, and becomes the first sitting Prime Minister to be convicted of committing a crime. Of course, many Tory MPs won't admit that, saying we should "wait for the full Sue Grey report", but seriously, can you maintain that the PM has done nothing wrong after being fined by the police?

This isn't just some random stuff pulled off of the internet from 4chan or Reddit, or Twitter, or any other internet rabbit hole. There is proof of so much of what Boris Johnson said, most of it from my new best friend - Hansard. When asked if there was a Christmas party at No 10, the PM replied that "all guidance was followed completely". Ignorantia juris non excusat springs to mind when I try to think of all of his other excuses.

He is trying to hide behind a judicial shield of a legal enquiry, and I don't think anyone can keep track of the number of times we have heard him say that we should "wait for the enquiry to be completed", or some variation on those words, not even admitting that he might have done something wrong, lest he be "perverting the cause of justice" under sub judice, or some other excuse.

Sometimes he isn't even trying to be subtle. He does the politician thing of avoiding the question, with the usual rhetoric about Brexit, or the booster rollout. Time and time again, he just cannot face the music.

Boris is far from the only one - in fact, over 50 fixed penalty notices have been given to people in relation to No 10 gatherings. Rishi Sunak and Carrie Johnson have also been handed the token £50 fine, a far cry from the £10,000 given to some people for hosting parties during lockdown.

People are beyond angry with this lying government, with one person I asked who asked to stay anonymous saying the following:

"The fact that this scandal has progressed so far is a stain on our nation, no PM should have ever been so seriously implicated in crime and continue, let alone been found guilty. Hypocrisy and double standards are the common strands of Boris Johnson's premiership, and it is completely unacceptable."

I could not agree more. Boris should be able to see what the public want, and he should take responsibility and do the right and honourable thing and resign. But he won't. At this point, he seems to not care one iota about his reputation.

To make matters worse, he didn't just hold boozy parties in No 10, he also knowingly mislead parliment. Under the Ministerial Code, which he always maintains he follows:

It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation...

So, where do we go from here?

Nowhere good, honestly. Boris Johnson refuses to resign, even though it would save face - Rishi Sunak the same. His options now are to either do nothing, or call a snap election, and put it back in the hands of the British electorate.

The alternative is a no confidence vote, triggered by Tory backbenchers. We don't know how close we are to the magic number of 54 letters, but we could be close.

So, what can you do? Write to your local MP, express your opinion, and if they are a Conservative, tell them to consider writing a letter of no confidence. They are your local MP, and their job is to represent your views. Democracy comes from the Greek for "people power". We are the people, we can make a difference.

If somehow, through all of this, you still support Boris Johnson, and would want nothing better than to see him in office for the next 20 years, I suggest you have a good, long hard look at yourself. Some people just never change.

It was David Davis who summed it up the best, quoting Leo Amery when he said “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing… In the name of God, go.”

 

(Disclaimer: any views or opinions are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent those of Hampton School or Newsquest Media. If you have any problems with the content of this article, please email edmundng2007@gmail.com. The image was taken by myself, with no permission for reuse.)