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Comment by Tycho | Hacker News Reader

This is one of the stupidest scandals I’ve ever seen. It makes Labour look very bad and deluded. They think the PM is going to resign because he stepped outside to the Downing St back garden for a short break and a glass of wine on a sunny day?

Hall Monitor mentality in full effect.

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I think you are missing the sentiment of the general public. A poll yesterday suggested two thirds of Brits would like him to resign [0] and another 56% [1], the public have had enough of him.

Just wait for the polling from today after his statement to parliament, I suspect it will be even worse for him.

Quite right though, he won't resign on his own accord, he will stay until he is pushed. But there is a very strong chance that is going to happen soon.

0: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson...

1: https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1480931525235462145

I'm not defending Boris here, but polls are never accurate and hardly ever correct when compared to actual elections. If polls were a real reflection of how the public are thinking why would we ever bother for a full-blown election?

The best thing to do with polling is to ignore them.

It's the double standard. People were being demanded to make great personal sacrifice on the orders of the government either being fined up to thousands for doing what they were doing or not being able to physically say goodbye to their loved ones, whilst No. 10 was flaunting the rules without consequence.

Why exactly should we follow rules when those that set them do not?

Without wanting to argue on the object level whether he was right or wrong, I don't think Labour is tone-deaf here. 42% of his own voters want him gone: https://twitter.com/SavantaComRes/status/1480922753867911179

These sorts of polls don’t mean much when he has a massive majority and years to run in his term.

He's being seen as an electoral liability by his own back benchers, who'd like to keep their job at the next election.

They provided cover for him on several occasions and then he u turned and made them look really bad to their constituents.

This specific issue is also causing a lot of public anger. It certainly isn't the worst thing he's done by a long mile. It's just becoming the straw that broke the camel's back.

That's not the point. The point is that this was an organised event at a time when such an event was illegal.

For public confidence in the system during extraordinary times, it is important that the people in charge lead by example. This clearly has not happened. It looks really bad when people can't visit their dying relatives in hospital, or have more than 15 people at a funeral, yet there are parties going on at the Prime Minister's office (and home).

He won't resign. Far more likely is that his own party will organise a vote of no-confidence in his leadership of the party. That will probably happen because many of his colleagues are worried about holding their seats at the next election, and are now seeing him as an electoral liability. To try to save themselves they will ditch him.

It all boils down to whether people want a PM that is a pathological liar, or one that doesn't even know if he's in a work meeting or a party.

It’s pretty normal for workplaces to have meetings where the main purpose is just some kind of team bonding or socialising between colleagues.

I'm not saying it's not normal, I'm saying it was illegal at the time.

It's Boris AND the 100 or so alleged Tories attending.

Bring your own booze and attending a gathering any other way would have resulted in fines and in some cases people going to court.

Its fine to say your bias because you vote Tory. I'll understand.

30 people who were working in the Downing St buildings stepped out to the garden to talk to colleagues. It’s not a big deal. Indeed they would be safer outside than inside. Safer than the NHS nurses posting dance videos on TikTok from their ward. We’re not talking about an illegal rave in a Whitehall basement here.

So much of not a big deal that Douglas Ross (leader of the Scottish Conservatives), as wel as numerous other Tory MPs said that the PM would need to resign if it turned out that he attended.

Why is it that you enjoy being lied to?

I just don’t care about things which are of no consequence, rather than frothing with rage about possible minor breaches of protocol. Try it.

More fool you. It's not even the crime, it's the lying. You trust liars.

I think we deserve these types of leaders as they are a reflection of us and society.

You wouldn't mind being decieted or lied to nor would you mind doing the same it would seem if you were in the same position.

Yeeees, PM lies and obfuscates, and lies some more and tells half-truths and hides behind an investigation to find out what HE was was doing (rather than just simply say if he went or not).

But it's Labour that looks bad .... right-so.

I think it’s more about the series of deceptions as this has come out.

Couldn't agree more. The stupid thing really is that he didn't just fess-up at the outset and it would all be forgotten about by now.

If we'd "fessed up at the outset" we'd be fined.

Yes, like everyone else that broke the rules. You clearly don't live in the UK.

Not everyone did and anyone caught would pay a fine.

I live in London. Lots of people did get fined. I remember someone local back when I lived in Palace that got fined for loitering at a train station for a bit.

Why should joe public be fined for breaking the rules, and not the political elites for breaking the same rules?

Here you go, £12,000 fine for a party.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/prince-philip-downing-...

It is not the crime in politics and PR that most matter in many occasions. We are human and we make mistakes. Apology and if fined pay; after times the public has more important fish to fry to care a drink or two. Yes, it is very bad for those lose their love one etc and they may be still around. But the general public? Down to 70+% reported last night want him to go. I wonder.

Politics is about public sentiment a lot.

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