Sue Gray

My dad died in the pandemic. Not of Covid but of Laryngeal cancer. However the pandemic meant I often couldn’t be in the same room with my dad who was semi-conscious, and well as my mum who could comfort me and answer my questions. Those memories will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I also, like an idiot stringently followed the rules. I was terrified of Karma during the lockdowns. I am a black woman and my parents were in the shielding category as were several other family members, a great aunt died of it. I took it seriously. I was scared. We all were.

So when I heard the Prime minister went to more parties in Lockdown than I went to in my entire decade of my 20’s (sad but true) I felt that.

It goes without saying that you lead by example.

It also goes without saying that Boris Johnson is telling barefaced lies hoping we’ll all be too obsessed with being poor to worry about it.

The truth is that truth and integrity matters. Being able to trust leaders matter and when we were all so scared meanwhile staff in downing street were drunkenly fighting like fishwives it hits a particular chord.

The funerals. Everyone had a funeral in 2020. Of course, they did. The Excess deaths were through the roof.

This means that almost everyone lost someone, and community mattered to them more than ever because they’d just spent so much time terrified. The fear was palpable back then.

Sue Gray in my opinion did us dirty by not giving Boris the impetus to resign.

We suffered. We all did. We all deserved justice. We just got spat at.

What is so dangerous about the report being published and Boris Johnson not resigning is the further demolition of standards in public life.

I wasn’t particularly politically aware when the first degradation happened. When Paddy Ashdown, then leader of the liberal democrats refused to resign when he was caught having an affair.

How you behave in private matters in public life, because as Rob Dial says, how you do one thing is how you do everything.

A man who will cheat on his wife is a weak man and so will try and cheat his country if it benefits him. He has no loyalty.

A man who lies in the face of parliament despite being caught red handed again and again is a dangerous man to have. Even if he is on you team. He will screw you from behind.

Next was the Iraq war. We all know that was a lie. May God help us. We made the world a less safe place. That was Tony Blair.

Then there was lying to the Queen. Which I have always felt is particularly abhorrent. Why? She’s a 96 year old ceremonial head of state. She could do nothing to this man for lying and yet he lied to her anyway. He deceived someone when there was no real upside in doing so. Gratuitous lying is extremely dangerous indeed. Which leads me to…

By not forcing Boris Johnson to resign we, the British Public have taught him and all that come after him that it is okay to lie. It is okay to be flagrant, it is okay because you are above the rules.

Please don’t come complaining to me when he lowers the bar further and we can’t go back.

Grace and Courage.

Annetta Mother Smith.