Partygate is a failure of leadership that cannot and must not continue

PM’s nightmare before Xmas

FOR Boris Johnson, the past 48 hours have been a horror show of historic proportions.

The Prime Minister had spent a week repeatedly denying No10 staff broke Covid rules by holding a Christmas party last December.

That strategy was exploded by the emergence of year-old footage of his then spokeswoman Allegra Stratton conducting a mock Press Q&A with other aides, in which they giggled about the party, and how to cover it up.

The clip has unleashed tidal waves of fury in his party and in the country, with even Ant and Dec mocking the PM’s relationship with the truth, in a manner far more brutal than Sir Keir Starmer is ever likely to manage.

Yesterday, with little alternative, the PM condemned the film as sickening, yet still refused to admit a party took place.

He also announced what risks looking like a can-kicking inquiry into it, while a contrite Ms Stratton fell on her sword.

The biggest problem of all is that it’s seen to be one rule for Whitehall and the PM, and another for everyone else.

Gatherings in No10 while families were unable to see loved ones even on their deathbeds… Barnard Castle… Sleaze… A senior Foreign Office civil servant staying on holiday for 11 DAYS as the Afghan evacuation floundered…

To the public mind, it’s madness and amounts to a failure of leadership by the PM that cannot and must not continue.

Which brings us to the decision to trigger Plan B Covid restrictions last night.

Cynics will no doubt see it as a distraction tactic — a bid to clear up and move on from the debris of Partygate.

This is probably unfair — but that the question can even be asked is a mark of how low the nation’s trust has sunk.

And, whatever the basis for the decision, millions will question its wisdom in the face of a mutant Omicron strain which is apparently milder in its effects.

Especially when the main risk of ending up in intensive care appears to be to those who remain unvaccinated.

For curbs on the public are not cost-free in any sense. Just those announced yesterday are tipped to hit the UK economy by £4BILLION A MONTH.

That’s without getting into the contradictions of guidance to work from home while being free to attend Christmas parties in a pub with your colleagues.

Predictably, scientists at Sage — who by now might as well be wearing sandwich boards with “The End Is Nigh” scrawled on them — howl for another full lockdown, regardless of the non-Covid damage to our physical and mental health.

The PM must resist them tooth and claw. The cost to our children, cancer patients, and businesses is just too great.

Besides, with the response to Partygate having shot yet more gaping holes in his credibility, Boris must fear the impact of his edicts now risks being diluted anyway.