When the Mirror broke the Partygate story, Boris Johnson hid behind falsehoods and evasion.
He showed a shameless disrespect for the truth then. And he continues to show the same disregard for it now.
The Commons Standards Committee sets out in painstaking detail how he violated the Covid laws he expected the rest of us to follow.
He partied, joked about breaking distancing rules and toasted departing colleagues.
The committee believes he may have misled MPs on at least four occasions by claiming guidance was followed at all times.
How could it come to any other conclusion when there is evidence Johnson attended party after party?
His attempt to claim he is a victim of a stitch-up because Sue Gray has since taken a job with Keir Starmer is a diversion tactic that would be laughable were it not so dishonest.
At the time Ms Gray published her report he thanked her and said it vindicated him. He can’t now claim she acted out of political bias.
The ex-PM undermined trust and trashed standards. The longer he refuses to accept the truth, the more he insults those who followed the rules at great personal sacrifice.
Tories’ betrayal
Society is judged on how it cares for the elderly, the poor and the vulnerable.
It is a test this country fails on a daily basis under the Conservatives. New figures show tens of thousands of pensioners died last year while waiting for social care – abandoned by the state when they most needed it.
The blame lies squarely with ministers whose cuts to local government funding over the last decade have left councils helpless.
People deserve dignity in old age. They have been betrayed again and again by the Tories.
Beyond our Ken
Ken Bruce, the master of pop, played his last record for Radio 2 yesterday.
Why did the BBC bungle his exit by denying him the last few weeks of his contract?
He never bungled a line in over 40 years.
