Politics
Channel 4 News
Thereâs no defending the indefensible, but unfortunately for Tory ministers bound by collective responsibility â and the Conservative backbenchers who are staunch supporters of Boris Johnson - theyâve had to defend the prime minister from a wave of criticism over Partygate.
The only problem is that they have a tendency of making the whole situation worse.
Much, much worse.
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So much so, in fact, thereâs a whole Twitter account ironically dedicated to âshowcasing Tories who are being extremely helpfulâ, titled âTories That Are Helpingâ.
Here are eight times MP's have made a massive hole even bigger:
Conor Burns:
"He was ambushed with a cake."\n\nA Conservative MP says that a birthday celebration held in Downing Street for Boris Johnson wasn't a "premeditated party".\n\nConor Burns tells @cathynewman that he supports Boris Johnson and that "the public will ultimately judge".pic.twitter.com/EGy0lcxXLAâ Channel 4 News (@Channel 4 News) 1643139113
In an interview with Channel 4 News on Tuesday, Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns argued people can âcharacterise these things in different waysâ when it comes to Partygate.
He said: âMy understanding of that, from what I know of it, and I know as much as you do or your viewers as home know, the prime minister was out on a visit. He came back, he was working in the cabinet room.
âPeople came in and presented him with the cake on his birthday, they sang âhappy birthdayâ, he was there for about 10 minutes.
The Channel 4 News presenter interjected: âWell invites were sent out.â
âWell he, as far as I can see, he was in a sense, ambushed with a cake. They came to his office with a cake, they sang âhappy birthdayâ, he was there for 10 minutes,â Mr Burns added.
#AmbushedByCake would later go on to trend on Twitter as people made a plethora of memes mocking him.
Andrew Rosindell
\u201cHe\u2019s not robbed a bank!\u201d - Tory MP Andrew Rosindell with the latest \u2018helpful\u2019 intervention for the Prime Minister on #PartyGatepic.twitter.com/EoXsCXsM7Zâ Alain Tolhurst (@Alain Tolhurst) 1643191875
Elsewhere, Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell - who sometimes makes headlines for his campaign to have the BBC play the national anthem every day â appeared in the news for a different reason when he suggested âlots of people break the law in small waysâ.
He told Sky Newsâ Kay Burley: âIâm sure there are ministers who get parking tickets and speed fines, too â they broke the [law]. You know, lots of people break the law in small ways, sometimes unintentionally.
âYou know, heâs not robbed a bank!â
He may not have robbed the bank Nationwide, Mr Rosindell, but heâs certainly betrayed peopleâs trust nationwide.
Crispin Blunt
Covid rules were broken in "most homes", a Conservative MP has said, as he joined a chorus of Boris Johnson\u2019s allies defending him over fresh allegations of a party in Downing Streethttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/25/covid-rules-broken-homes-claims-mp-defending-boris-johnson-partygate/?utm_content=politics&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1643148731-2\u00a0\u2026â Telegraph Politics (@Telegraph Politics) 1643150946
Crispin Blunt, the MP for Reigate, sparked fury after he suggested to BBC Radio 4âs PM programme that âmost homesâ and âmost businessesâ may not have âkept absolutely to the rulesâ.
He said: âSome of these rules made more sense in hindsight than others, which probably didn't achieve very much.
"But these are difficult decisions being made and it may very well be that probably inside most homes and inside most businesses, and inside most places of public administration, people may not have kept absolutely to the rules."
Mr Blunt then went on to dig an even bigger hole, when he compared a Covid fine or âfixed penalty noticeâ to a speeding ticket.
âWeâve now got the Metropolitan Police investigating alleged criminality ... which would attract a fixed penalty notice.
âNo one is suggesting that if the prime minister had been caught speeding that he should be sacked, I hope.
âHe shouldnât be driving himself in any case, but letâs try and get it into perspective,â he said.
The MPâs remarks have since been described by Twitter users as âdespicableâ and âembarrassingâ.
Michael Fabricant
If I reported every time I had been threatened by a Whip or if a Whip reported every time I had threatened them, the police wouldn\u2019t have any time to conduct any other police work! What nonsense from WW.â Michael Fabricant \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 (@Michael Fabricant \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7) 1642674994
One MP with an affinity for sticking his foot in it is Michael Fabricant, who has also come under fire for his response to Nus Ghaniâs accusation that she was fired as a junior minister because of her âMuslimnessâ.
âSheâs hardly someone whoâs obviously a Muslim,â he told LBC presenter Andrew Pierce.
Meanwhile, on Partygate, one tweet from Mr Fabricant on allegations a party whip had threatened a fellow Tory MP over a no-confidence letter backfired spectacularly on Thursday.
He wrote: âIf I reported every time I had been threatened by a whip or if a whip reported every time I had threatened them, the police wouldnât have any time to conduct any other police work! What nonsense from WW [William Wragg MP].â
Needless to say many Twitter users were quick to point out how the tweet somewhat suggests that Wraggâs experience, if true, isnât an isolated incident.
Lord Moylan
pic.twitter.com/rt2CT1mCUzâ Tories That Are Helping (@Tories That Are Helping) 1642972957
Conservative peer Lord Moylan chose to wade into the debate on Saturday with the helpful contribution that âJohnson doesnât lie any more than the rest of usâ.
Perhaps he later realised how much of an embarrassment the tweet was, as it has since been deleted from Twitter.
Julie Marson
Absolute scenes in Bishop\u2019s Stortford...\n\n\u201cWe have asked Julie Marson\u2019s office to forward us the \u2018local newspaper industry rules\u2019 that say a columnist should dictate a newspaper\u2019s content to its editor.\u201dpic.twitter.com/xSGQ2DqnKoâ Will Durrant (@Will Durrant) 1642708894
Things got really rather awkward in Bishopâs Stortford last week, when the Tory MP for the area, Julie Marson, refused to write about Partygate in her fortnightly column for a local newspaper.
She instead chose to write about the far more pressing issues of âtrain services for Hertford East passengers and hare coursingâ, apparently.
In an explanation published instead of the comment piece, the Bishopâs Stortford Independent wrote: âIn the two years since [we offered Ms Marson her column] we have never told her what to write about in her column â until this week and âPartygateâ.
âOn Friday [14 January], we emailed her office: âIn light of the widely reported events and developments concerning the prime minister this week, I would like Julieâs scheduled column for next weekâs Indie to address fully and solely the issues at the heart of these matters, in a similar way to her 700-word statement of May 2020 concerning Dominic Cummings and his Barnard Castle trip, which we published in full.ââ
However, in offering up a piece on trains instead, her office explained: âWeâve noted your comment about what you wanted it to be about but take the view that if a paper offers a column slot, then itâs up to the person given that opportunity to decide what to write about. This is normal local newspaper industry rules too.â
As a result, the paper decided not to run the column at all, and asked the office to âforward us the âlocal newspaper industry rulesâ that say a columnist should dictate a newspaperâs content to its editorâ.
Ouch.
Ms Marson responded to the decision on Twitter later the same day, writing: âOh sorry editor of Bishopâs Stortford Independent but not true itâs only once you (rudely) told me what I should write about (despite having already commented on it).
âHereâs an email from October 2020 when you tried to force me into writing what you wanted. Jog any memories?â
The email attached to the tweet referenced a request to write about free school meals for school children.
Oh, sorry editor of Bishop\u2019s Stortford Independent but not true it's only once you (rudely) told me what I should write about (despite having already commented on it). Here\u2019s an email from October 2020 when you tried to force me into writing what you wanted. Jog any memories?pic.twitter.com/isOvfUmDZxâ Julie Marson MP (@Julie Marson MP) 1642612591
The correction from the editor was the next day, and read: âIn the 2 years that the Indie has been offering Julie Marson MP a fortnightly platform for an unedited 900-word column, #PartyGate is the second, not the first, time we have directed her - as we similarly do with our other columnists - to address a burning issue.
âWe are grateful to her for highlighting the fact that the first time she would not be directed on addressing a burning issue related to her voting against feeding hungry school children in holidays.â
Martin Vickers
Tory backbencher Martin Vickers on why MPs should wait for the Sue Gray report before making any moves:\n\n"even a serial killer gets his day in court."â Jim Pickard (@Jim Pickard) 1642608665
According to Financial Times reporter Jim Pickard, Tory MP Martin Vickers said âeven a serial killer gets his day in courtâ when it comes to Conservatives waiting for Sue Grayâs report before taking any action.
Weâre not sure the prime minister would appreciate that comparison.
Nadine Dorries
So, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for ten minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party?â Nadine Dorries (@Nadine Dorries) 1643050393
Not long after ITV News broke the latest scandalous breach of lockdown rules â an alleged birthday party for Mr Johnson in Downing Street in June 2020â culture secretary Nadine Dorries took to Twitter to defend her boss.
âSo, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for ten minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party?â she asked.
It didn't go down well.
Still Nadine Dorries
When asked why it had taken Rishi Sunak 8 hours to back Johnson, Nadine Dorries blames the Wi-Fi in Devon.pic.twitter.com/yz3PjBB8IJâ dominic gamson (@dominic gamson) 1642103333
It wasnât the only time that the culture secretary delivered a bizarre blunder in defence of her colleagues, as the Mid Bedfordshire MP claimed Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was slow to express support for Boris Johnson over Partygate because of the Wi-Fi in Devon.
Yes, really.
âThe chancellor was on a long planned visit down to Devon on the coast where, as we all know, the signals - the Wifi and broadband - which is something that the MP for that area that he was with, Selaine Saxby, is constantly lobbying for.
âWe know it doesnât have great signal down there, we know that itâs a pre-arranged visit,â she told Channel 4 News.
We donât know how strong the signal is in Devon, but we do know that a stronger signal has been sent to Mr Johnson for him to resign.
Dominic Raab
It seems like a long time ago now, but remember when a photo of staff in the Downing Street garden was a big Partygate issue? At the time, Dominic Raab was wheeled out to defend the photo to the media and he did so by claiming the gathering could not have been a party because people photographed were "wearing suits".
Somehow we are sceptical of the idea Raab has never been invited to a formal do.
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Things went from bad to worse for the Tory party when Jacob Rees-Mogg decided to slam Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish branch of the party and called him a "lightweight".
\u201cDouglas Ross has always been quite a lightweight figure\u201d\n\nJacob Rees-Mogg MP says the Secretary of State for Scotland \u201cis a much more substantial and important figure in this\u201d\n\n#Newsnight https://bbc.in/3I0s4wB\u00a0pic.twitter.com/9aala8jM1sâ BBC Newsnight (@BBC Newsnight) 1642029662
It is not like relations with the Union are important or anything...
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