Disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed "serious contempt" of Parliament and should have been suspended for 90 days, a damning parliamentary committee report has found.
Mr Johnson was found to have committed repeated and serious contempts by the Privileges Committee, whose 30,000-word report was released today. As Mr Johnson and his few remaining political allies release statements proclaiming his innocence and criticising the committee, it's worth remembering how the scandal unfolded - and how Mr Johnson reacted when grilled on the issue by the ECHO at the time.
The initial story on what came to be known as Partygate was broken by the Mirror on November 30, 2021. Then-political editor Pippar Crerar revealed details of claims over a Christmas party - complete with Secret Santa and Christmas quiz - and a packed leaving do.
Since then we've had obfuscation, denials, wild claims and resignations - alongside the occasional mealy-mouthed apology to anyone who may have been offended by what did, or didn't, or possibly might have but probably didn't - but could have - happened.
Amid the thousands of words from the committee - eloquent, precise and devastating - and the seemingly hundreds of thousands from Mr Johnson which are anything but, it's possible to be persuaded that this issue is complex, that Mr Johnson could be forgiven for being confused about the ins and outs of the rules he made and the rules he broke.
So it's worth going back to the days after the scandal emerged, and to one of Mr Johnson's first media engagements in its aftermath. On December 6, 2021, he was in Liverpool, a city the magazine he edited once besmirched with a piece whose contents do not bear repeating.
READ MORE: Five ways Boris Johnson misled the House of Commons
On this occasion Mr Johnson was in action man mode, out on County Lines raids to promote a 10-year drugs strategy aimed at cracking down on drug gang crimes.
Our crime reporter Jonathan Humphries was there and quizzed Mr Johnson about the scandal, which was dominating the headlines and leading even then to calls for him to go.
Specifically, Jonathan asked Mr Johnson for his message to the people of Liverpool who had lost loved ones, who'd made unimaginable sacrifices, who'd listened to him and - despite his track record - given him the benefit of the doubt at a time when the country needed everyone to come together.
We asked: "Over 4,500 people in Liverpool have lost their lives to covid over the past couple of years, countless have had their lives disrupted and businesses have struggled.
“What would you say to those people in light of recent reports about a gathering at Number 10 last year when London was in Tier 3 lockdown?"
The response, in full, was this: "Yeah well on that the first thing I would say to the people of Liverpool is that I’m so sorry for the loss of life throughout the pandemic, it’s been a terrible thing for our country and the world, and we grieve with those who grieve.
"Clearly I am also sorry for the loss of business that people have faced, and terrible difficulties that people have experienced during lockdowns, the difficulties with mental health and all the privations that people have had to put up with.
"I think Liverpool has done an incredible job of getting through it, an absolutely incredible job, because it hasn’t been easy in this city, it really hasn’t.
"And I remember Liverpool was right out in front, do you remember? When we were in a pretty tough patch Liverpool was right out in front when it came to mass testing, there was a huge community spirit here to try to fix the problem that way.
"Liverpool’s been doing an amazing job on vaccination.
"Vaccination is the way forward and getting your booster is the way forward. We have done 20 million boosters in this country now; it’s not bad, in fact it’s extremely good, but we need to go much further and faster and everybody is going to be offered a booster by the end of January all those who are over 18 so get your booster when you’re called forward.
“And on this business that’s in the media constantly all I can say is; no covid rules were broken and there you go.”
Looking back, the answers are telling. Anyone familiar with Mr Johnson's rhetorical style will recognise the bluster, the spewing forth of sentences only loosely related to the question, the mixture of empty platitudes with a faux matiness of the sort which helped smooth his passage to power via favourable media coverage and primetime TV slots.
And then, at the end, as he alludes to this all being something "in the media" rather than real life, came the lie.
"No covid rules were broken and there you go."
There you go.
He misled Parliament, he misled friends and enemies alike. He misled the grieving, the suffering and the sick. He misled Liverpool, right from the start. There must be no way back to public life for a man who, in the commitee's own words, has launched an "attack on our democratic institutions."
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