The front door of 10 Downing Street (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)As the partygate saga rumbles on there is a sense is some quarters that we should just move on from the issue given the war in Ukraine and spiralling cost of living crisis now facing the country, or at least that’s what Welsh Secretary Simon Hart would have you believe. The minister was sent out to bat for the prime minister today, and told TalkRadio that “the world has moved on a considerable distance” from the scandal, and seemed more than happy to draw a line under the issue.
That is perhaps a convenient position for a serving minister to hold, but not all amongst his party would agree with Mr Hart. Tory MP Steve Brine seemed to suggest that honesty was the best policy, and that the government should just front up about who has and hasn’t received fines, or else the country won’t be able to move on.
Mr Brine told Westminster Hour’s Carolyn Quinn that: “They should just be honest about who’s been tipped off with what and put it all out there and say, you know what, we got this wrong, or this person’s got this fine, because these guys in the press, they won’t focus on the issues of the local election … just be honest, and put it all out there, that would be my advice."
It’s unlikely that the Winchester MP is about to be made the next director of communications at the Tory party HQ based on this evidence, but stranger things have happened in politics.
How do you feel about the partygate saga now? Is it still important? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below for the chance to be featured on the ES website tomorrow.
