London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Cover-ups and credibility: Johnson’s denials no longer carry much weight

Cover-ups and credibility: Johnson’s denials no longer carry much weight

Analysis: perceived gulf between reality and No 10’s statements is making matters worse for government
It has come to the point where Boris Johnson and No 10’s denials that an event took place have diminishing credibility.

All the evidence points to a party having taken place in Downing Street on 18 December, when London was subject to restrictions on indoor gathering.

Testimony from many sources says No 10 staff held a party that day, with a Secret Santa, refreshments and games. A video has now emerged of aides joking about the gathering and its lack of social distancing.

But Johnson’s official spokesperson was adamant on Monday. “There was no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times.”

Johnson himself says he is “satisfied” that no rules were broken.

The same gulf between reality and No 10’s doublespeak is evident in the case of the rescue of Pen Farthing’s animals from Afghanistan.

A whistleblowing Foreign Office civil servant has given evidence that the prime minister was involved in ordering the dogs to be rescued instead of humans, potentially depriving people of life-saving spaces on a plane.

Johnson and No 10 were adamant the idea that he or his wife, Carrie Johnson, ordered that decision was “utter nonsense”.

But within hours a letter emerged from Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary, Trudy Harrison – his closest MP aide – giving Farthing authorisation to proceed with evacuation of his staff and animals.

And, as ever, it is the appearance of cover-ups that has made things worse for No 10, with people close to the events pushed to speak out by the sense of untruthfulness emanating from Downing Street.

The multiple leaks from within the civil service are also a sign that all is not well in Johnson’s administration, with deep discontent in Whitehall.

Even Johnson’s supporters would concede he has a chequered relationship with the truth, stretching back to his days as a young journalist during which he was sacked for fabricating a quote.

In 2004, Michael Howard sacked him from the shadow cabinet after he lied about an affair. Johnson reportedly told Howard: “It’s my private life. I have the right to lie about my private life.”

Since becoming prime minister, there have been a string of occasions on which Downing Street’s integrity has been challenged.

Among the many examples was the furore over whether the prime minister lied to the Queen about his reasons for proroguing parliament – an allegation which he denied.

Then came Johnson’s reported quote that he would rather “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” than order another lockdown. And while Downing Street insisted the allegation was untrue, many media outlets – BBC, ITV and Daily Mail – reported it all the same, citing sources who were allegedly in the room when the statement was made.

And there is Wallpapergate: the ongoing saga of who financed the £58,000 in lavish renovations to Johnson’s No 11 flat, with the prime minister accused of having been evasive over how the bill was paid. Johnson insisted he had stumped up – but it later emerged that money was loaned by the Conservative party and subsequently by the millionaire donor and Tory peer Lord Brownlow. The Electoral Commission is investigating.

Aides in Downing Street will now be agonising over whether this latest story about the Christmas party has the dreaded quality of “cut through” with the public. They believe the public is not that bothered about how the prime minister funded his flat, or whether he made a comment about Matt Hancock being “fucking hopeless”.

But, like the Barnard Castle affair, where Johnson’s aide Dominic Cummings was found to have gone on a drive during lockdown to test his eyesight, and Hancock’s resignation for having an affair when socialising was banned, this story seems to contain a strong element of hypocrisy.

It is the sense that the rules did not apply to Johnson and those around him, and their efforts to dupe the public about what really happened, that could leave an enduring sense of rancour.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×