Originally Posted by Chris

The phrase “I was told” is standard ministerial weasel wording, used precisely when said minister is saying stuff they know could well be untrue, so that if it eventually hits the fan they can claim they weren’t lying because they were misled.

There is, however, no way any sane person could have been credulous enough to believe that event wasn’t a party even if directly told it wasn’t one. You can take your pick out of lying, insanity or gullibility (or a combo, I’m not bothered - but at least one of them applies).

Getting bogged down in the technicalities of what constitutes a lie to parliament is precisely the smoke-screen that’s meant to fool us. As they say in Australia, Blind Freddie could see that was a party. That it occurred while people were forced to stay away from their dying loved ones is a national outrage. I can’t think of any senior minister, of any colour, who would have tried to brass out something even half as awful as this. Boris Johnson has got to go because I seriously dislike what the political state of our nation has become if he doesn’t.