The prosecution rests

DAG wrote a post a few months ago about hyper-partisanship, where a person, or newspaper, etc, will carry on unwavering support for someone else, or a political party, reporting on in favour of their chosen one, ignoring even documented evidence to the contrary.

Yesterday, Alexander Boris de Piffel Johnson was cross-examined by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee, where hour by hour his shells of lies were broken down until he was revealed as a naked lying man-baby.

But the Mail this morning, on its front page, has a piece by Sarah Vine (Gove) that says: “Harman’s face was thunder. Boris was agile as a cat. Pure box office, but after four hour nit-picking, had a single mind been changed?”

The reality was that it was revealed and accepted by Johnson that the assurances he gave at the Dispatch Box that all rules were followed were not after discussions and meetings with his legal team, medical officers, but his chief of staffs, one of which denied such a conversation had taken place, while the other said such an assurance related to just one gathering, not them all.

Johnson admitted he had mislead the House, but denied to correct the record as hand on heart, he believed he did right.

This is further contempt of Parliament and of the Committee.

He questioned the authority and aim of the Committee, insulted the Chairperson, and shouted insults near the end, his legal team headed by Lor Pannick drew a sharp intake of breath and shook his head.

Johnson did not think the rules that he told us several times a week at the nightly news conference applied to him or Downing Street, it seems that for the most part, he was the only one in the building who thought that laws and guidance had been followed at all time.

But without accurate reporting of the events, how can the public be expected to be informed? Once great papers of record are now just Tory Pravda, repeating without question the party lies.

So, did he mislead Parliament? Yes, and he admitted it, though he says he believed he was right anyway.

Did he correct the record at the earliest opportunity? No. Clearly not, and again when offered to correct the record in the Committee Room, he refused.

Because of the local elections in May, the report will not be published until after those, and then once published, The Commons will have to decide on what sanctions, if any, are appropriate.

In the end, Johnson allowed parties and social gatherings inside Downing Street while people in the rest of the country could not be at the bedside of family and loved ones when they died, beside their partners at the birth of their children because they believed it was the right thing to do, because the Government said it what was supposed to be done to protect the nation.

There were no allowances for “work bubbles”, there were no allowances for “morale boosting” gatherings as people left to join other departments. Doctors and nurses worked all hours in impossible conditions whilst watching patients die one after the other.

They had no parties.