The Daily - How Partying Could Be Boris Johnson’s Undoing

Episode Date: January 25, 2022

When allegations first emerged in November about parties held at 10 Downing Street, the residence and offices of the British prime minister, during a strict Covid lockdown, Prime Minister Boris Johnson waved them away. Yet in the weeks since, the scandal has only grown, with public outrage building as more instances and details of lockdown parties at Downing Street have emerged.Some voters in Britain have long been willing to overlook the foibles of Mr. Johnson’s character, but this is a scandal that poses an existential threat to his leadership. Guest: Mark Landler, the London bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Boris Johnson’s future is in doubt after two humiliating apologies about parties while the country was under Covid restrictions. Here’s a guide to how he could be forced out, or fight on.Mr. Johnson, long famed for brushing off accusations of distortion or outright lying that seemed to only bolster his image as an incorrigible scamp, suddenly faces potential political death over the very charge to which he had seemed immune.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, the Prime Minister of Britain is engulfed in a growing scandal over boozy parties and moral hypocrisy. and moral hypocrisy. I spoke with my colleague, London Bureau Chief Mark Landler, about why this, of all moments, might be the end of Boris Johnson. It's Tuesday, January 25th.

Mark, the last time that we took a hard look at Boris Johnson, it was not long after he had won office on the promise that he would be the one to get Brexit done, to pull off this delicate and gnarly process of removing Britain from the European Union. And the question then was, is this guy a serious enough and capable enough leader to do that? This man who our colleague Sarah Lyle memorably described on the show as a political chameleon who would pretty much say whatever he needed to say to get through a moment, and as this shambolic figure, you know, late to meetings, rumpled, bumbling, never bothering to comb his hair, was this the guy who was going to meet

that historic moment, get Brexit and everything it entails done? And I'm curious what you think the answer has been. Well, in a very simple way, he did. And he did so really quite quickly. I mean, remember, Britain formally left the European Union just six weeks after he won this landslide election. So in a very narrow sense, he got Brexit done and got it done fairly quickly. But even beyond that, he negotiated a very complicated and difficult trade agreement between Britain and the European Union. Many people said it couldn't be done. He did it and hence delivered not just on the symbolism of leaving the EU, but on the substance of it as well.

And meanwhile, it was 2020. So like every other world leader, Boris Johnson was also dealing with the calamity of coronavirus. So by the end of that first year in office, Boris Johnson looked like a fairly consequential leader. I mean, say what you will about his shambling personal style or his lack of organization, he had actually taken Britain through the most important transition

it had made politically since the war and had seen Britain through the first part of the pandemic, which is a record, really, that in terms of the gravity of the issues he was dealing with, that very few of his predecessors had faced really going back to wartime history. So safe to say at this point, he has defied many of his doubters and generally exceeded expectations. Yeah, that's right. In fact, by the end of his first year, a lot of the commentary in Britain is whether we're at the beginning of a 10-year stretch

of a Boris Johnson era. As a conservative prime minister, he's looming as a fairly consequential, you might even say a giant figure on the British political landscape. But then comes this very weird and murky scandal that engulfs his government and might even force him out of his job over, of all things, garden parties. Okay, so tell us the whole of the garden parties story,

because it is difficult to reconcile the idea that Boris Johnson might be one of the most Party's story? Because it is difficult to reconcile the idea that Boris Johnson might be one of the most consequential prime ministers in the post-war era and that he could go down over Garden Party. So what is that story? Well, you're right. There is something kind of trivial about the whole thing at first glance.

And indeed, the way it leaked out almost seemed like it was not going to be that big a deal. So at the end of November, the Daily Mirror, which is a London tabloid, carried a story saying there had been parties at 10 Downing Street, which is the complex where the prime minister lives and works and where his staff also works. These are parties that happened a year earlier at a time when the country was in a strict coronavirus lockdown. Parties either in his back garden, in the basement of Downing Street. Boris Johnson denies it immediately. He says all coronavirus restrictions were followed. So for someone in my position, this just doesn't seem like that big a deal. And the story just kind of dribbles on like that until this video emerges. And this is what really blew up this story and turned what had been

kind of, at the risk of a bad metaphor, a garden variety Boris Johnson scandal into a mega Boris Johnson scandal. So tell us about this video. What the video was, in essence, was a leaked video of a mock press conference. And just to sort of set the stage for a second, Boris Johnson had planned for a long time to institute White House-style briefings in Downing Street, where the press would come into a very nice room and a press secretary would brief, much as Jen Psaki briefs in the Biden White House.

And he hired a very good political journalist, Allegra Stratton, to play that role. And she was being trained by Downing Street staff about how to take questions from the press in a press conference setting. Anybody have any questions today? And the questions from the press in a press conference setting. Anybody have any questions today? And the video that day was of a press conference where the questions were about Downing Street garden parties. I've just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night. Do you recognize those reports?

I went home. Hold on, hold on. I went home. Hold on, hold on. And she was attempting to answer questions about, you know, what's going on? Is this legit? How do you justify it? With the promise to condone a hell of a prison. What's the answer?

I don't know. You know, it's very clear from the way she's answering the questions that there is no justification. And so what's meant to be a training exercise instead turns into sort of a lighthearted back and forth between Stratton and her colleagues about just how transparently wrong this is. I don't know. I think it was the party. It was cheese and wine. Just be clear. Is cheese and wine all right? At one time, she sort of says jokingly, is cheese and wine all right?

It was a business meeting. I'm joking. This is recorded. It was a fictional party. It was a business meeting. And it was not socially distanced. One more, and then we'll... And so this video is taken and obviously put into a drawer somewhere

until it's leaked to the press. And the reaction is immediate and explosive. Well, Boris Johnson's government is facing a major holiday headache tonight. It may only have been a Christmas party, but it was abusive, offensive towards the British public. There's something deeply sickening about the idea that those making the rules are having wine and cheese. Because it basically shows that not only are these parties a thing,

but everyone's well aware of it, everyone's in on the joke, except apparently the British public. It's just another example of Boris thinking one rule for us and another for the mugs out there. And, you know, the important thing to remember is this is a video of a session that was recorded months earlier during these very grim days of a lockdown. dark moment when everyone else was making sacrifices, these people were not only not living by the rules they were imposing on others, but were making light of it. It was just a big joke to them. And Mark, how does Boris Johnson's government respond to this leaked video?

Mr. Speaker, may I begin by saying that I understand and share the anger up and down the country at seeing number 10 staff seeming to make light of lockdown measures. Boris Johnson goes to the House of Commons and offers a fulsome apology. He says he shares the outrage of the public. But I repeat, Mr. Speaker, that I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no COVID rules were broken. And that is what I have been repeatedly assured. But he sticks to a story, which is that no COVID restrictions were broken. And his audience of particularly opposition lawmakers is openly skeptical of his account.

Later on, Allegra Stratton, the official in the video, resigns her government post and offers a tearful apology for having taken part in this whole exercise. But that's not the end of it. As time goes on, we just keep hearing about more parties. Yet another party in number 10 involving Boris Johnson's team. Boris Johnson is unlikely to be waking up with a clear head this morning with the continuing furore over lockdown breaking parties at number 10. This becomes an almost weekly exercise where some newspaper or another gets a tip on another party. The latest allegations centre on so-called Wine Time Fridays, regular Downing Street drinking sessions held throughout the pandemic.

And the stories did not spare any details. Eight months ago, one of Boris Johnson's aides turned out of this shop, trailing them a suitcase full of wine. The Daily Mirror reports that the regular events were so popular that staff bought a fridge to keep wine and beer cool. There were also tales of people having raucous parties where there was a DJ playing music, and they went out back and actually used the swing set

that had been installed for Boris Johnson's young son and in fact actually breaking the swing. A quote, farcical culture of drinking and impromptu socializing with little oversight from senior officials. You can't really describe this as a series of one-offs anymore, can you? So it turns out these lockdown parties, as you're describing them, basically became routine.

That's right. And the details just piled up on top of each other, each disclosure almost more outrageous than the last. The public anger about this also grew, particularly when there was a report of two parties held at Downing Street on the eve of the funeral of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband. You'll recall those very poignant pictures of the queen sitting alone in a choir stall at Windsor Castle at the funeral,

wearing a mask, isolated from other members of her family. You know, she was playing by the rules. But the night before, there had been these kind of wild parties at Downing Street. So that was another moment where public anger just ratcheted up. But for Boris Johnson himself, the real turning point, the real point this became existential for him, was when a report came out that not only was there a fairly significant party at Downing Street, but that Boris Johnson himself had attended it. Hmm.

And that's the moment when I thought a story that was pretty lurid, pretty interesting, actually became something that threatened his very political survival. We'll be right back. So, Mark, at this point, Partygate has reached the prime minister himself. He's caught at a party. The British people are furious, and he has a lot of explaining to do. So what happens next?

Well, this is the beginning of, you know, what you could call the Boris Johnson apology tour. Mr. Speaker, I want to apologize. He comes to the floor of the House of Commons. I have learned enough to know that there were things we simply did not get right. And he offers this contrite expression of regret. He says, And when I went into that garden just after six on the 20th of May, 2020, to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 minutes later to continue working. I believed implicitly that this was a work event.

I thought this was a work event. I didn't think it was a party. So he's sticking to this idea that I didn't knowingly go to a party. With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside. But he's also acknowledging that this whole thing looks terrible. And I should have recognized that even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way. And as he's trying to explain himself... And to them and to this house, I offer my heartfelt apologies. He's being jeered by the other side.

Well, there we have it. After months of deceit and deception, the pathetic spectacle of a man who's run out of road. You know, this is a red-letter day for the Labour Party. It's his defence that he didn't realise he was at a party. It's so ridiculous that it's actually offensive to the British public. The public have already drawn their own conclusions. He can run, but he can't hide. Well, Mr Speaker.

So it's a very tough day for Boris Johnson in Parliament. Wow. Wow. So these apologies don't seem to be working exactly, but from my understanding of British politics, Boris Johnson's party, the Conservatives, the Tories, they control Parliament, right? So does it really matter if Boris Johnson is being jeered by the opposition so long as his own party supports him in this moment?

Yeah, that's right. The Tories have an 80-seat majority. So as long as the party's united behind the prime minister, then Johnson's position is secure. It doesn't really matter if the Labour Party MPs are jeering him across the aisle. The problem for him is that as this scandal unfolded, his support within his own party began to crumble.

And perhaps the most visible moment of this came a week later when a Conservative Party MP, Christian Wakeford, actually crossed the aisle in the House of Commons and sat with the Labour Party. Can I start by warmly welcoming the honourable member for Berry South and for the Parliamentary Labour Party. And he did it moments before Boris Johnson stood up to address these issues on the floor of the House. the House. Mr. Speaker, like so many people up and down the country, he has concluded that the prime minister and the conservative party have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves. So it was an extremely vivid and dramatic moment,

sort of a very symbolic repudiation of Boris Johnson. And that wasn't even the end of it. repudiation of Boris Johnson. And that wasn't even the end of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like many on these benches, I spent weeks and months defending the prime minister. After Boris Johnson had been besieged by questions from all sides, a very senior member of the Conservative Party, David Davis, stood up. But I expect my leaders to shoulder the responsibility for the actions they take. And deployed a line against Johnson that had once been used for another embattled Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain. You have sat there too long for all the good you have done. In the name of God, go. Shut up! And a kind of a stunned silence settled on the chamber as Johnson realized that not only had he witnessed a defection of a junior member of his party,

he now had one of the most senior members of his party standing up behind him and telling him his time was up. Wow. So, Mark, the speed of this all is remarkable. This journey that Boris Johnson has been on from the guy who got Brexit done to pariah in just under two months. And I'm curious how you understand this collective decision by the British people and by Britain's elected officials, including members of Boris Johnson's own party, to turn on him almost in unison. Is this a reflection of people's longstanding doubts about Boris Johnson and his unseriousness and the sense that he's not so truthful? Is this instead a measure of people's exhaustion with COVID restrictions after more than two years and his hypocrisy when it comes to those restrictions?

Or is it both or is it something else entirely? I think, Michael, that actually it is sort of the two issues that you talked about working in unison. So on the one hand, you have a society that has been through some of the most intense and prolonged lockdowns of any Western country. And something that's very key to the British character is this willingness to get on with it,

to go along with the rules. So I think the idea that some elite cohort of people that run this country were not willing to live by those very same rules when they expected everyone else to, I think that offended people on a very profound level. I think it just felt like it was a double standard. It was a lack of accountability. It was a hypocrisy. Choose any word you want. A little bit of all of that. So that's on a societal level. But I also think, as you say, that there was a sense of revelation about how they felt about

Boris Johnson. For a long time, British voters were willing to overlook the foibles of Boris Johnson's character, because on some deeper level, he was doing what a majority of them wanted. He got Brexit done. The problem is, and what this crisis really revealed, is that there really wasn't more for Boris Johnson to do after he got Brexit done. This is not a politician who has a profound vision for the future of his country. And I think that he bet correctly on Brexit. But when it came time to chart a future for the country, this episode, oddly enough, is the one that I think allowed a lot of people to see that the emperor has no clothes, that Boris Johnson doesn't have

a particular vision, that he's not someone with principles or ideas that actually can lead Britain not only into a post-Brexit future, but into a post-COVID future. So that as trivial on some level as the Garden Party scandal might seem, it was kind of a real insight into the limitations of Boris Johnson's character.

And I think at some level, in some collective way, the country decided enough. You know, you did what we asked you to do, but we actually don't necessarily want you to take us any further. And I think at some level, that's the judgment, as ruthless as it is, that was passed on Boris Johnson over the last two months. is that was passed on Boris Johnson over the last two months. You're saying the British people saw this as a moment to look in their prime minister's soul and they don't like what they're seeing. That's right. I think that some of what was acceptable two years ago in a new environment, in this serious post-COVID, post-Brexit world, somehow doesn't look as acceptable anymore. The hypocrisy that could have been laughed off earlier can no longer

be laughed off. And so I think that's really, when you get right down to what's happened to Boris Johnson, he hasn't changed, but the people he's leading have changed. And crucially, they've changed how they view him. Mark, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you, Michael. On Monday, British media revealed yet another party at 10 Downing Street. This one thrown in honor of Boris Johnson's birthday in June of 2020. At the time, strict COVID restrictions had banned such indoor gatherings. ITV News said that the surprise party was attended by up to 30 people.

A spokesperson for Johnson admitted that he attended the party, but said that he remained there for fewer than 10 minutes. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. The United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us, our allies, our partners. On Monday, the Biden administration put 8,500 American troops on high alert for a possible deployment to Eastern Europe in case Russia invades Ukraine. As of now, the decision has been made to put these units on higher alert and higher alert only. No decisions have been made to deploy any forces from the United States at this time. The Times reports that the decision is a major pivot for President Biden,

who has previously taken a restrained approach to Russia's threats against Ukraine for fear of provoking Vladimir Putin. But as diplomatic talks with Putin's government have sputtered, Biden is now trying a new strategy. Several European governments are taking similar approaches by offering to put troops and equipment in countries that neighbor Ukraine. France has offered to send troops to Romania. Denmark says it will send F-16 jets to Lithuania. And the Netherlands has offered to send F-35 jets to Bulgaria. So far, the potential deployments are designed to serve as a deterrent against Russian aggression. are designed to serve as a deterrent against Russian aggression.

Today's episode was produced by Sydney Harper, Rob Zipko, and Rochelle Banja, with help from Ricky Nowetzki. It was edited by M.J. Davis-Lynn and Anita Botticello, contains original music by Dan Powell and Mary Lozano, and was engineered by Corey Schreppel. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. That's

it for The Daily. I'm Michael Bilbaro. See you tomorrow.