Cable Forum - Updated: Boris resigns as party leader

Well that’s interesting, because neither of my questions addresses the strict letter of the law. Both my questions address the moral issues around what we expect of our leaders and the moral consequences of their failure. Yet while you’re prepared to accept the higher moral standard implicit in my first question, you dodge it in the second question by flipping over to the issue of strict legal liability and penalty.

The issue in strictly legal terms is that he broke the same law as many other people have done and received the same penalty. In terms of his obligations under law, case closed. However, what I’d love you to do is to set that aside and address the issue purely in terms of what we as a society expect of our leaders and how we expect them to act when they fall short of those expectations.

There are innumerable examples of senior government ministers - even prime ministers - resigning due to serious errors of judgment even where those incidents fell short of criminality. I’m curious to hear your reasons why you think Boris Johnson is not under a moral obligation to resign, given the extremely serious context in which his criminal behaviour occurred.

papa smurf

12-04-2022 14:29

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Carrie Johnson also being fined, i wonder if Rishi's wife will also be fined.

Chris

12-04-2022 14:30

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by papa smurf (Post 36118847)

Carrie Johnson also being fined, i wonder if Rishi's wife will also be fined.

I don’t know. Can you be non-domiciled for covid fine purposes … ?

papa smurf

12-04-2022 14:40

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36118848)

I don’t know. Can you be non-domiciled for covid fine purposes … ?

Was wondering that myself, if she is fined she can probably deduct it from the £20,000,000 she avoided paying in tax to hubby.

---------- Post added at 14:40 ---------- Previous post was at 14:33 ----------

I suppose they could contest [That it was a party]and have their day in court, it is a grey area.

OLD BOY

12-04-2022 14:45

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36118846)

I was merely referring to the legal situation.

Yes, of course it was morally wrong, and it is also expected that he should offer his resignation if he lied to Parliament, as it now appears he did.

However, I still think that in the scheme of things, this is trivial, but of course his detractors would not agree. Whether this is the end of his Prime Ministership, we will have to wait and see, but he will certainly be damaged by this.

Hugh	12-04-2022 14:48

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

You think it’s trivial for a Prime Minister to lie to Parliament?

Chris

12-04-2022 14:54

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLD BOY (Post 36118852)

The grand scheme of things is a global pandemic that resulted in unprecedented curbs on our freedom which we are only now, more than 2 years later, properly seeing the back of. There are many ways I would describe the behaviour of those who imposed those rules, only to then deliberately break them. ‘Trivial’ is not one of them.

Any politician, of any party, in any previous generation, would be preparing their resignation speech at this point. If Boris is not doing so, then that is extraordinary.

Hugh	12-04-2022 14:55

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

From that leftie rag, The Spectator…

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/...nister-must-go

Quote:

I It isn’t just the fines. It isn’t just the behaviour that has led to the Prime Minister being issued a fixed penalty notice by the Metropolitan police. It isn’t just the lies told about that behaviour, lies issued with the most sweeping confidence inside and outside the House of Commons. It isn’t just the fines and the indifference to the rules he and his ministers set for everyone else and demanded they follow – on pain of arrest – and the lying about that behaviour and the cavalier assumption that public opinion can go hang. It is all of those things wrapped together.

All of this makes the Prime Minister’s position intolerable and a fellow possessing a greater amount of self-awareness or – to employ an old-fashioned term – honour, would read the room and do the decent thing. That there are ample grounds for doubting this Prime Minister will do the appropriate thing is itself a further reminder of how standards in public life have been corroded...

… The behaviour is bad enough but might have been survivable had the Prime Minister and his allies not treated the public as fools. Do not believe the evidence of your own eyes and ears, they said, for what you see and what you hear is untrue. There were no parties. The rules were followed. These were work events. And if the rules were not followed, well, it was only junior members of the team letting off a little steam in a time of national emergency. The Prime Minister was not present and if he was present he was not involved. Others may have sinned but the Prime Minister, ex officio, cannot have been among them. He was at home.

papa smurf

12-04-2022 14:58

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36118855)

The grand scheme of things is a global pandemic that resulted in unprecedented curbs on our freedom which we are only now, more than 2 years later, properly seeing the back of. There are many ways I would describe the behaviour of those who imposed those rules, only to then deliberately break them. ‘Trivial’ is not one of them.

Any politician, of any party, in any previous generation, would be preparing their resignation speech at this point. If Boris is not doing so, then that is extraordinary.

It's a fixed penalty notice not murder.

Chris

12-04-2022 15:00

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by papa smurf (Post 36118858)

It's a fixed penalty notice not murder.

I can only refer you to my earlier comments about the moral responsibilities of leadership.

OLD BOY

12-04-2022 15:12

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 36118854)

You think it’s trivial for a Prime Minister to lie to Parliament?

It is a trivial matter to break lockdown rules.

---------- Post added at 15:12 ---------- Previous post was at 15:07 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36118855)

I guess it depends what you call ‘trivial’. It would not be trivial if it was an imprisonable offence.

The global pandemic was not trivial, I agree, but I don’t think partygate caused any deaths, do you?

papa smurf

12-04-2022 15:17

Re: All those No.10 lockdown parties

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36118859)

I can only refer you to my earlier comments about the moral responsibilities of leadership.

The police think it was a party, Boris still may not think it was, rishi didn't think he had done anything wrong, personally i would have my day in court with a good lawyer on my side.

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