Quite.

I suspect he is now looking for a suitable head to chop for deflection purposes - that Martin bloke seems a likely one.

I think anybody who lost a loved one during the lockdown who were not able to see them in their last moments, nor able to hold a proper funeral for them would call this a big scandal.

You can't ask the public to make enormous sacrifices like that and not abide by your own rules.

But sadly the PM is a slippery fish so may well find a way out of this. It's whether his party will tolerate this type of behaviour in fear of an electoral battering at the next GE is the big question.

This isn't yet another rehearsal of well known personal views about the wisdom of the government's responses to the pandemic.

This is about whether Johnson can survive the seemingly non ending revelations about his hypocrisy.

That only depends on a cold, hard political calculation of whether he is more, or less likely to save the Tories from a disaster at the next GE. Local elections matter as a barometer, but it's the GE which will be uppermost in the thoughts at Central Office. Make no mistake that it is there that the decision will be made.

I don't think he has any chance of recovering. The only question is when, not if, he will be replaced before the GE. Now or later.

The bigger question is by whom? Gove is about as attractive a replacement as Brown was after Blair. Sunak untested under pressure. The Tories need to win the next election and not risk a hung Parliament, which looks a distinct possibility if they continue on the same track. Adopting a more conciliatory attitude with the EU could assist that, whilst risking nothing. There is no UKIP or Brexit Party breathing down their neck now. So we could yet be very surprised at whom they choose to draw a line under populism and move the Party back onto morally defensible political ground.

Your definition of populism changes with the weather.

I seriously doubt Boris is going anywhere.

This is just the usual desperate Leftists, of which you are one, trying anything to score a point against a government with a massive majority.
Hypocrisy is nothing new from the ruling classes, be they Blue or Red. The country has more important things to worry about.

Edited by Hrolf The Ganger (11 Jan 2022 6.04pm)

This isn't yet another rehearsal of well known personal views about the wisdom of the government's responses to the pandemic.

This is about whether Johnson can survive the seemingly non ending revelations about his hypocrisy.

That only depends on a cold, hard political calculation of whether he is more, or less likely to save the Tories from a disaster at the next GE. Local elections matter as a barometer, but it's the GE which will be uppermost in the thoughts at Central Office. Make no mistake that it is there that the decision will be made.

I don't think he has any chance of recovering. The only question is when, not if, he will be replaced before the GE. Now or later.

The bigger question is by whom? Gove is about as attractive a replacement as Brown was after Blair. Sunak untested under pressure. The Tories need to win the next election and not risk a hung Parliament, which looks a distinct possibility if they continue on the same track. Adopting a more conciliatory attitude with the EU could assist that, whilst risking nothing. There is no UKIP or Brexit Party breathing down their neck now. So we could yet be very surprised at whom they choose to draw a line under populism and move the Party back onto morally defensible political ground.