Have the Tories forgiven Boris for partygate?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2022

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

Despite the fines issued yesterday, Keir Starmer's attacks at Prime Minister's Questions today failed to land on Boris Johnson. In part, this was down to the Prime Minister's 'remarkably pugnacious' attitude, according to James Forsyth on this episode. What's more, it seems that Conservative MPs are happy to allow partygate to take a back seat for now. James remarks that 'previously when Boris Johnson tried that kind of very aggressive tactic... you could see the discomfort on Tory benches. Today I thought that was much less visible.'

This all comes after a team bonding dinner at the Crowne Plaza last night, where Boris Johnson gave a boisterous speech to backbench MPs, followed by after-dinner remarks from broadcaster Gyles Brandreth. Was this good timing? 'I do think that the jokes that Boris Johnson was telling is a sign of the current confidence in No 10 about his position', James says.

Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman also discuss the Shrewsbury maternity scandal. On Sajid Javid's pledge that this won't happen again, Isabel Hardman says: 'I'm not sure that that is a promise he can really make, because we had that promise after Morecambe Bay, which again was exposed by a bereaved father'.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is sponsored by Canacord Genuity Wealth Management,
0:04.3	award-winning wealth managers who go above and beyond to support and guide you.
0:09.1	Visit candewelth.com to start building your wealth with confidence.
0:16.8	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shot Suspectators' Daily Politics podcast,
0:20.9	I'm Katie Bulls and I'm joined by James Forsyfe and Isabel Hardman.
0:24.6	Well it's the morning out of the night before for around 250 Tory MPs who attended a team bonding
0:31.9	group dinner last night and it was the same day that dinner as the Met Police obviously
0:37.7	announced in 20 party gate finds, the first batch there could be more to come.
0:43.1	So before we perhaps get to the details of that James, at Prime Minister's Questions,
0:47.6	party gators back, how did Boris Johnson respond?
0:51.1	So at the beginning of this scandal, Boris Johnson did try
0:55.2	contrition in the House of Commons once or twice and it didn't go very well from it,
0:59.9	it didn't sit with his normal style. So today he was remarkably pugmacious considering
1:08.1	the circumstances and when Keir Starmer made the point that the fact that the Metropolitan
1:13.5	Police have issued 25s does not seem to record with what Boris Johnson told the House of
1:17.6	Commons about how all the rules were followed. Boris Johnson kind of just kind of scoffed and said
1:22.8	I thought you were saying I shouldn't resign a few weeks ago and now you're saying I
1:26.7	make your mind up kind of thing and it was a remarkably aggressive performance and I thought
1:30.8	what was striking to me was that previously and you were actually in the chamber I was sitting
1:35.3	at my desk watching on TV as I was waiting for proof so you might have a slightly different
1:38.9	impression from me on this but I've thought previously on Boris Johnson tried that kind of
1:43.6	very aggressive tactic in response to questions on this. You could see the discomfort on the
	...

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