Thirteen is thirteen. We'll be there again. More stubborn than a mule. Boris Johnson sulks like a spoiled child and insists he did nothing wrong at Downing Street's illegal parties during the pandemic. That the fault is not his, but that of the subordinates, who misinformed him. Yes, he deceived the Parliament, it is true, but it was unintentional. And that punishing him would be a great injustice, he doesn't deserve it. Whoah, whoah, whoah...
The former prime minister, who had to resign (or rather was expelled) by the partygate scumbags, is gambling his political career, or what is left of it, with the sanction imposed on him by the committee of the House of Commons for having lied to MPs when he repeatedly assured Downing Street that social distancing and the draconian lockdown rules he had imposed were being maintained.
Partygate is, in a way, for Johnson what January 6 is for Donald Trump. But if one thing was the equivalent of a coup attempt in the United States (which gives lessons of democracy to the whole planet), with all the seriousness that this implies and the death of several people, the other is, in comparison, a child's game, more farce than tragedy. Of course, it has been analyzed as active and passive, rivers of ink have been written about it and even the sheep are bored.
The gossip ends today with a four-hour questioning of Johnson by the seven members of the parliamentary committee (four Conservatives, two Labor and one from the Scottish SNP), broadcast live on television. But the Tory politician advanced the arguments for his defense yesterday with the publication of a 50-page report. He basically admits that he deceived the Commons, "but out of ignorance, not irresponsibly or intentionally".
Johnson, who has a memorably hard face that ultimately cost him dearly, maintains his innocence like those lovable creatures who paint the walls of their house with marker and then claim it was unintentional. But he goes further and denounces (like Trump) a political conspiracy by his enemies to get him out of the way. A witch hunt, like McCarthy's against the communists in the United States of the fifties, but directed against him, the anti-communist par excellence.
"There is no document that incriminates me - he says - only the allegation of my ex-advisor Dominic Cummings, who has voted against me for having fired him, and a report from the official Sue Gray, which - oh, coincidence! – she has just been hired as an adviser by the Labor Party”. In his opinion, everything reeks of sleaze. "Nor would it have occurred to me to deceive Parliament expressly - he assures with the conviction of compulsive liars, a common description of him -. I never imagined that Downing Street meetings could be considered parties, and whenever I asked I was told they were perfectly legal. It must be taken into account that this is a small terraced house where many people live and work, 18 hours a day."
Johnson thinks he and his team had the right to "have fun", but the rest of the country couldn't even say goodbye to their dying parents. Will those in charge of judging him believe it?
