London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

The clouds of Partygate may part for Johnson, but there will be another one along soon

The clouds of Partygate may part for Johnson, but there will be another one along soon

He stumbles from one fine mess to another. It is hard to know when there was worse custodianship of national affairs
Another triumph for Boris Johnson’s Houdini act. Partygate appears over with today’s announcement that the Metropolitan police has closed the file on Downing Street parties, with 126 penalty notices and reportedly no more for the prime minister. Rumours are that Sue Gray’s separate report on the parties will be published next week, but it is hard to see what it is likely to add, or what will come from the continuing inquiry into whether the prime minister “misled parliament”. Johnson’s tactic of devolving judgment to a dilatory police force has worked, albeit at the cost of £460,000. What appeared last December to be a resignation issue has been kicked down the road so many times as to disappear from view.

Like all high-profile political sagas, Partygate looks like one of those transient Westminster storms more seismic at the time than in retrospect. It stands with other “affairs”, such as Profumo, Westland, Formula One and Cheriegate in the canon of moments when the strictures of Westminster seemed to usurp those of the electorate. They display De Tocqueville’s truth about British politics, that its ethos is that of a club not of a mob. Leaders are at most short-term risk when they offend the club, not the people.

The breaking of lockdown rules by Downing Street in 2020 infuriated the British public. It had been asked to suffer social privation on an unprecedented scale and did so only after the most explicit insistence from the prime minister that it was for the greater good. It led to extreme misery and suffering during a desperately difficult time for all.

It also led to many cases where people did not follow the stricter – admittedly often sillier – rules. When Johnson was himself found guilty of this, public anger was understandable. It was exacerbated by his display of habitual mendacity under pressure and his clear belief that he could waffle and stall his way out of trouble. In this he was helped by Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, which he exploited outrageously, and by an unfortunate slip by Labour’s Keir Starmer, his prime tormenter, caught drinking a bottle of beer in an office. Starmer was duly goaded by the rightwing press into Beergate, and a promise to resign if found to have erred likewise.

Since then, much water has flowed past the walls of Westminster. Johnson has had to sack a half dozen of his closest advisers. He has also paid a predictably heavy price at the May local elections. But the heat has been waning. Forecasts that the May election would end his stay of execution for Partygate were false. Time was the healer. As of now, Johnson can plead that he still has the “misleading parliament” inquiry to pass judgment, and that is expected to be under Tory acting chairmanship.

For the time being, Johnson’s cabinet or parliamentary party seem unlikely to summon a leadership election to eject him. Any cabinet colleague suspected of disloyalty can expect to vanish in a summer reshuffle. Partygate is over and, in all common decency, the Durham police, de facto collaborators in Johnson’s escapology, should also end Starmer’s torment. His “crime” was footling in comparison with Johnson’s.

The irony of politics is the deeper the mess into which a leader takes his country, the more secure he probably is in the short term. The prime minister stumbles from mess to mess, each one somehow overriding the last. Partygate now seems trivial against the shambles of Johnson’s Northern Ireland protocol, where his past ineptitude remains critically in need of resolution. Yet that, too, seems in just a week to have given way to its successor, the cost of living crisis. Here again, the impression is of a leader fumbling for policy options, with a team of B-grade ministers all nervous for their jobs. It is hard to recall a time when the British economy was in worse custodianship just when it most needed the best.

As so often in Johnson’s career, all that matters is the now. His judgment is fixed not on interest rates or taxes, energy prices or health spending, Brexit or Ukraine. It is fixed on opinion polls, headlines, press leaks, tearoom gossip and letters to the 1922 Committee. The clouds of Partygate may have cleared and Johnson may be free, but one thing is certain of this prime minister. When one cloud clears, another is on the horizon.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
×