Boris Johnson was up all night, it said on Thursday morning, and for a good reason. His wife Carrie gave birth to their second child, a girl, in a London hospital. The British Prime Minister’s spokesman announced that the baby and mother are doing well. So much for the good news for Boris Johnson.
The bad ones started on Thursday with a topic that had recently almost been forgotten. A government committee released the investigation report into the renovation of Johnson’s Downing Street apartment – which hit the headlines several months ago because a Tory party donor had paid for much of the cost. Now the committee has found that the money has not been correctly declared. The Conservative Party was therefore fined the equivalent of 20,000 euros.
But something else is far more uncomfortable for Johnson. Investigators found that the prime minister had sent a Whatsapp message to the donor, a multimillionaire named Lord Brownlow. In it, he asked Brownlow for help with the renovation – several months before he said in an interview that he hadn’t known about any of this. It was unclear on Thursday whether this would have consequences for Johnson, especially since this process is in turn overshadowed by this other thing that the British media have now given a name: “Partygate”.
For days there has been talk in political London about the supposed parties in Downing Street in December 2020 while the country was in lockdown. So far, the focus has been on a party on December 18: “It must have been 40 or 50 people, it was really bad,” she quoted Financial Times a Downing Street employee.
What is the extent of the Partygate scandal?
Johnson had denied the allegations several times before apologizing Wednesday that he was misinformed and announcing an investigation. In a lower house debate on Thursday, the government announced that the cabinet secretary charged with the investigation would also look into two other alleged meetings.
However, the British media reported on Thursday that in the last few weeks of last year there was not only the party on December 18 in Downing Street, not a total of three parties – but seven. However, it is unclear whether these were irregular gatherings. On at least one occasion, Johnson is reported to have been present and given a speech.
In the midst of this situation, the British Prime Minister announced further measures to contain the corona virus on Wednesday evening. Its spread is currently being accelerated by the Omikron variant, and the measures are rather harmless from a non-British perspective. In closed rooms, the mask requirement applies again, everyone should work at home again, if possible, a vaccination certificate is required for larger events and nightclubs.
The MPs, including those of the Tories, criticized Johnson’s announcement harshly. Hadn’t his deputy emphasized the day before that there would be no new measures until next week? That was before the “Partygate” got its name.