The Times - UK (2022-01-13)

the times | Thursday January 13 2022 9

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From giving birth alone to broken rela-

tionships and missed chances to say

goodbye to dying relatives, Times read-

ers have shared their stories from the

spring of 2020.

“We had no hugs or laughter at hap-

pier times, no joint consolation at the

awful way we had to say goodbye to our

dad, on a Zoom call, as he lay gasping

for his final breaths in a nursing home,

dying of Covid,” one reader recalled.

As Boris Johnson finally apologised

yesterday for attending a Downing

Street garden party during lockdown,

hundreds of readers wrote in with the

sacrifices they made and moments they

missed because of coronavirus restric-

tions at the time.

“I gave birth completely alone and

then my husband met our daughter in a

car park,” remembers another reader.

A third writes: “I lost my job in the

City and had to get work on a building

site throwing lumps of concrete into

skips. I had to leave London and move

back in with my parents in darkest

Hampshire at 26.”

While government officials mingled

with nibbles and wine on May 20, 2020,

England was in a full lockdown, with

the public barred from leaving their

homes without a “reasonable excuse”.

Coming to the prime minister’s de-

fence in the chamber this week, the

paymaster-general, Michael Ellis, said

Johnson “retains the confidence of the

people of this country”.

However, the responses from our

readers suggest a simmering anger.

Elizabeth Glen, 58, and her family

said goodbye to her father over a video

call after care homes shut their doors to

visitors to stop the spread of the virus.

“My grief about this has nowhere to

go when I read these sickening

accounts. We held a funeral for my dad

that very month, and couldn’t even hug

our mum, who sat tragic and alone. We

had no closure of a wake,” she writes.

“There is no recompense for this,

ever, but having a political party strong

enough, and moral enough, for us to

overturn the terrible Tories, would go a

long way to helping us, and the millions

who have been equally and personally

betrayed by this terrible government.”

Johnson admitted that he chatted to

staff in the garden for 25 minutes

shortly after 6pm, adding that he

“believed implicitly that this was a work

event”, before returning to No 10 after-

wards. He said he regretted not order-

ing staff to return indoors.

Amid a furious backlash from within

his own party, hundreds of readers have

written to The Times to tell their per-

sonal stories of heartbreak and frustra-

tion after being separated from their

loved ones as officials paid scant atten-

tion to the law.

Births, deaths and graduation balls

have been missed while careers were

ended and relationships ruined as

people stuck to the rules, according to

more than 300 submissions received

this week.

Kevin Cosgrave, 49, from Hartlepool,

says both his parents were “killed by

Covid restrictions” after they suffered

“eight weeks of torture” in isolation.

Michael, 54, from Sheffield, recalls

how he was unable to visit his sister,

who was living in a nursing home, and

“dying from dementia, aged 48, with

Down’s syndrome”.

“We were unable to visit her until

near the end of the second lockdown,”

he writes.

“I felt I was lucky that I was still able

to go to work during the lockdowns,

working at a gypsum mine, but there

was never any socialising at work, no

parties and definitely no alcohol — that

would have been a sacking offence.”

Others had less luck holding down a

job during lockdown. Richard, a 26-

year-old City worker in London, said

that he had lost his job in the capital and

had to move back in with his parents.

“My mental health went through the

floor and my relationship with my

immediate family became intensely

strained. What’s worse is to think that

comparatively, I had it easy,” he writes.

EJ, 34, gave birth “completely alone”

after her husband was blocked from

watching the birth. He later met their

daughter in a car park.

“We were all told why the restrictions

were in place. We understood the law

and so found other ways. How can we

trust this government? How can they

lead us after behaving that way?”

Andrew Middlemiss, a 74-year-old

who was separated from his family for a

year, writes that he was “never tempted

to bend the rules” because “it was por-

trayed as so singularly important that

the rules be followed”.

“Of course to find out afterwards that

we were being taken for a bunch of fools

by the prime minister and his govern-

ment and staff makes us disgusted and

sickened by their duplicity.”

However, some readers were more

sympathetic about bending the rules.

An anonymous submission from a

55-year-old NHS worker expressed

understanding for the guests in the

prime minister’s garden.

“My daughter’s funeral was limited to

30 people. We broke the rules at the

funeral by everybody hugging,” the

worker wrote.

“My work life became my social life.

We worked so hard and under awful

circumstances, so did pretty much the

same as Downing Street... took every

opportunity to let off steam (within

work) when we could.”

had gone on rather than anything he
himself had done wrong.
It was a calculated gamble. The
prime minister and his aides are
hoping that when Gray’s inquiry is
eventually published it will be far less
incendiary than his opponents are
expecting.
All the events being investigated
were organised by officials rather
than political staff in Downing Street
and the vast majority of those who
attended were civil servants.
The hope is that Gray will not
want to be too damning of
government officials — of whom she
is one — and will therefore in the
process have to clear their political
masters as well.
If that is not the case and Gray
concludes that Johnson was aware of
the social nature of the party — and
its non-compliance with lockdown
rules — then Johnson’s position
would seem pretty untenable.
But even in the best-case scenario
Johnson is not out of the woods. As

today’s polling for The Times shows

the public has largely made up its

mind about the scandal and anything

Sue Gray may say is unlikely to

change that.

And despite some high-minded

rhetoric most Tory MPs do not care

too much about the niceties of

lockdown rules — they care

about holding their seats at the

next election.

If Gray’s inquiry clears Johnson but

the damage to the prime minister’s

reputation appears permanent then

they are just as likely to move against

him as they would if she finds against

him. It might take longer — but the

result would still be the same.

Johnson has never had a loyal or

ideological following among

Convervative MPs.

They have elected him and backed

him because they think that he is a

vote winner.

However, when and if they think

their seats are safer with another

leader he will be gone.

News

SIMON WALKER/HM TREASURY HANDOUT

Rishi Sunak visited

a pharmaceutical

factory with the

North Devon MP

Selaine Saxby

this year. “Our betting

suggests that we are

fairly confident that a

new prime minister

will be in place before

the end of 2022,”

Aitkenhead added.

Truss is the second

favourite at 4-1,

followed by Sir Keir

Starmer, who is 5-1.

Harry Aitkenhead, a

Coral spokesman, said:

“Rishi kept himself

away from the chaos of

PMQs today and he is

our clear favourite to

replace Boris as prime

minister.”

Johnson is odds on,

at 4-9, to be replaced

‘My husband met his

new baby in a car park’

Johnson’s fate in Gray’s hands

Profile

S

ue Gray, the

civil servant

investigating

lockdown

parties in

Downing Street and

Whitehall, holds the

fate of the prime

minister “in her

hands”, a former

permanent secretary

has said (Henry

Zeffman writes).

Sir David

Normington, who

worked at the Home

Office and oversaw

public appointments,

said that Gray had

been placed in a “very

odd” position as the

public waited for her

verdict on lockdown

rule-breaking in

government.

“She’s in the middle

of a political

maelstrom at the

moment trying to

establish the facts and

there’ll be a lot of

pressure on her to

conclude this

investigation as

quickly as possible,”

he said.

He continued: “She

will be very aware

that she has the

reputations and

possibly the careers of

senior civil servants

and possibly of the

prime minister in her

hands. That is a very

difficult position to be

in, however fair and

fearless and rigorous

you are.”

Normington added:

“She has in her

previous role as head

of propriety and

ethics investigated

cabinet ministers, the

behaviour of cabinet

ministers and so on,

but I think it is fairly

unprecedented for her

to be investigating

behaviour of the

prime minister and, of

course, of the cabinet

secretary and the

principal private

secretary in No 10.”

Normington

criticised Martin

Reynolds, Johnson’s

principal private

secretary, who sent

the email inviting

Downing Street staff

to a drinks party

when gatherings of

more than two people

outdoors were

banned.

“There have been

enormous pressures

on politicians and

civil servants, but I

think there will be a

lot of civil servants

around the country at

the moment really

pretty horrified at

some of the decisions

that have been

taken,” Normington

said. “I think the

calling of a party in

the middle of the first

lockdown is

inexplicable, it’s a

terrible misjudgment

and it brings

disrepute on the civil

service.”

Gray’s appointment

in December to take

charge of the review

into Downing Street

parties marked a

return to prominence

for a civil servant who

was once considered

Whitehall’s

sleazebuster in chief.

In six years running

the Cabinet Office’s

propriety and ethics

team Gray, 64, ended

the careers of three

cabinet ministers,

vetted prime

ministerial memoirs

and was the ultimate

arbiter of right and

wrong in the

corridors of power.

It was her

investigation into

Theresa May’s deputy,

Damian Green, in

2017 that led to his

resignation over

pornography on his

Commons computer.

A former colleague

of Gray said: “I would

liken her to the most

extreme headmaster

and she will not be a

fan of Boris Johnson.

“She’s quite rude

and full-on. She was

known for negotiating

the salaries of the

government special

advisers and being

as tight with

money as possible.

As a result we

lost a lot of good

special advisers.”

Sue Gray has ended

the careers of at least

three ministers

If the prime minister

has the public on his

side, it is not reflected

in our postbag, writes

Charlie Parker