6 NEWS Politics
THE WEEK 9 April 2022Controversy of the week
How fatal is Partygate?
What an irony it is, said Sean O’Grady in The Independent,
that the first and only person we so far know to have
“copped a fine” for breaking Covid rules at Number 10,
should be the then Director General, Propriety and Ethics in
the Cabinet Office. Helen MacNamara, the erstwhile “ethics
tsar”, is one of 20 people to have been issued with a £
fixed-penalty notice by the Metropolitan Police over
“Partygate”: she reportedly supplied the karaoke machine
for a “raucous” leaving do in June 2020, when indoor
gatherings were banned. And we can expect to see more
penalties arising from the investi gation into 12 separate
events, three of which were attended by the PM. Boris
Johnson says he’ll tell us if he’s fined, said Sean O’Neill in
The Times. But what of the others? By refusing to reveal their identities, the police are “cloaking this
Whitehall farce in yet another layer of secrecy”. We only found out about MacNamara because a
newspaper outed her. The public has a right to know the names of all the people who broke “the
draconian emergency laws” they imposed on the rest of us.It’s a real scandal, said Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer, but the truth is that Johnson thinks he has
got away with it. Just weeks ago he was “on the precipice of losing the premiership” over this. Now
he feels relaxed enough to poke fun at the Tory MPs who’d sought his downfall via letters to Sir
Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee. The MPs should be grateful, the PM
joked at a recent dinner with his parliamentary party, that they don’t live in Russia, where they’d find
it hard “to write 54 letters to Sir Grahamski Bradyski”. For the time being, Johnson’s complacency
is justified, said Andrew Marr in the New Statesman. As it is now, “the war in Ukraine makes it
virtually impossible for the Tories to mount a leadership bid”. Assuming they could “find a window
big enough”, they still wouldn’t dare defenestrate him; even if they fare catastrophically badly in the
5 May local elections, they’ll find reasons to excuse him. But it’s putting off the evil day: in the
run-up to the next general election, the Tories may realise too late that Partygate has left an indelible
stain, and that the stored-up anger of people around the country finds expression at the ballot box.That the PM and his officials may have disregarded the prescriptive laws they should never have
imposed is a fit reason for censure, said The Spectator. But in the context of the crises facing Britain,
it isn’t a resigning matter. The PM should be judged on more pressing issues, notably the cost of
living crisis. On the contrary, said the Evening Standard: the police inquiry matters because it exposes
a “culture of rule-breaking at the heart of Whitehall”. Millions of Britons obeyed the rules at huge
personal cost; even the Queen “sat alone to mourn the death of her husband of 73 years”. Yet on the
eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, there was a party at Downing Street. The PM repeatedly said rules were
not broken. They were. For those who lost loved ones to Covid, the pain will not be forgotten.Protesting Partygate outside No. 10Spirit of the age
Good week for:
Ed Sheeran, who won his lengthy legal battle over accusations
that he had plagiarised another artist’s song in writing his megahit
Shape of You. The High Court ruled that the singer and his
co-writers had “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a
refrain from a 2015 song called Oh Why. Sheeran said he hoped
the ruling would put an end to “baseless” plagiarism claims. In
court, he had testified that the refrain involved “a basic minor
pentatonic pattern”, which is “entirely commonplace”.
Breaking glass ceilings, after the most senior woman in the
British Army was given a promotion. Major General Sharon
Nesmith is to be made a Lieutenant General, and has also been
appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
Cinderella ravers, with news that DJ Annie Mac is creating a
club night that starts at 7pm and ends at midnight, for music
lovers who need to get a good night’s sleep.Bad week for:
Roman Abramovich, who has reportedly been going cap in hand
to his rich friends for loans, as sanctions bite. According to the
New York Post, owing to his assets being frozen, the billionaire
is struggling to pay his staff’s wages – some $750,000 a week.
Bruce Willis fans, after the actor’s family announced that he is
retiring from the industry, owing to aphasia affecting his language
processing skills and cognitive abilities. The news prompted an
outpouring of affectionate tributes to the 67-year-old actor,
known for his roles in the Die Hard films, Twelve Monkeys,
The Fifth Element and The Sixth Sense.Divorce law reform
No-fault divorce has come
into force in England and
Wales. Until now, anyone
who wanted to divorce
quickly had to accuse their
spouse of adultery, desertion
or unreasonable behaviour. If
they declined to apportion or
accept blame, they had to
live apart for two years
before a divorce could be
granted, rising to five years
if one party did not agree to
the divorce. Campaigners
said the law caused
unnecessary rancour, and
hardship too, by trapping
people in unhappy or
abusive marriages. Now, one
party need only state that the
marriage is over. The process
can be completed in six
months – including a “period
of reflection” of 20 weeks.Duke’s £750,000 gift
The Duke of York was
embroiled in fresh
controversy last week, when
it emerged that he had been
given £750,000 by a Turkish
millionaire. According to
papers filed in the High
Court, Nebahat Isbilen, 77,
was tricked into paying the
money by a Turkish banker
named Selman Turk, whom
she had employed to move
her assets out of Turkey. Turk
allegedly told her that the
money was for help in
getting a new passport. There
is no suggestion of wrong-
doing by the duke, and the
money had been repaid.Tory MP accused
Trade unions representing
parliamentary staff have
called for MPs accused of
sexual misconduct to be
barred from Westminster
while inquiries take place.
The call came after The
Sunday Times reported that
David Warburton, the Tory
MP for Somerton and Frome,
had been accused of sexual
harassment by three women.
It also reported allegations
that he had used cocaine.Barbara Streisand caused a
stir when she revealed, in
2018, that she had used a
firm called ViaGen Pets to
create clones of her beloved
dog. Since then, ViaGen
reports that hundreds of pet
owners have followed suit,
despite the cost – £38,
for a dog – and ongoing
ethical concerns about the
process. Animal charities
have warned that extracting
eggs for cloning is invasive
and causes unnecessary
suffering – owners won’t get
a replica of their pet, just
one that looks like it.House plant ownership has
become so popular among
younger generations that it
has its own hipster-speak,
says The Guardian. Adapted
from US rapper slang,
“plant flexing” means
displaying one’s wealth
via the size of one’s
variegated monstera.