Keir Starmer reveals how he 'set trap' for Boris Johnson over partygate scandal
Keir Starmer reveals how he 'set trap' for Boris Johnson over partygate scandal
The Labour leader said he wanted to get Mr Johnson to say on the record that no rules had been broken - believing this would ultimately come back to haunt him.
This is the kind of thing I mean when I say that some of the Tories' own goals should be partly credited to Starmer.
It's similar to all the ridiculous flag shagging: that suddenly paid off when Sunak made the unforced error of bailing on the D-Day celebrations, which left Labour an open goal but only because Labour had set themselves up well in the first place. There's suddenly an obviously 'patriotic' party for the people who think that matters (and that it's indicated primarily by flag shagging). Ditto the Truss budget. Labour wouldn't have benefited from that if they hadn't already been banging on about fiscal responsibility.
As a counterpoint to Desperate Dorries constantly claiming Johnson is the victim of a witchhunt, it's interesting to hear the perspective from Starmer that Johnson was ousted as the result of a combination of a long-term strategic plan to pin him down, and his own flawed behaviour and personality.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Sir Keir Starmer said he always suspected Boris Johnson's relationship with the truth "would bring him down"- as he revealed how he "set a trap" for the ex-prime minister over the partygate scandal.
In an interview with The Guardian, the Labour leader said he "couldn't care less" about the insults Mr Johnson hurled at him over the despatch box, including when the then PM called him a "pointless human bollard".
Ms Stratton resigned in December 2021 over a video which showed her laughing about a Downing Street Christmas party, which happened when London was under strict COVID restrictions.
Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie and then chancellor Rishi Sunak were among 83 people fined over lockdown-breaching events in Downing Street during the pandemic, when the nation lived under strict social distancing restrictions.
The scandal meant Mr Johnson was on thin ice by the time the Chris Pincher affair emerged - sparking a wave of mass resignations which ultimately brought him down.
Mr Johnson was later found to have "deliberately" misled MPs over the partygate scandal by a Commons inquiry - a ruling which led to him quitting parliament altogether, claiming he was the victim of a "witch-hunt".
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