Kate Plummer
Feb 05, 2022
A 60 second video has explained just why all the issues that Johnson has faced this week alone are so damaging for his premiership.
This week, Johnson received Sue Gray's interim report into Partygate which wasn't exactly complimentary, he made a false claim about Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile in parliament, causing widespread anger, five aides resigned from Downing Street, with one citing the Savile claim as a key reason, and more Tory MPs revealed that they have submitted letters of no-confidence in the prime minister.
Phew.
A lot has happened and as the incredibly busy newsweek came to an end, BBC Newsnight's Lewis Goodall looked back at it in a piece to camera outside Downing Street and summed up the impact it has had.
He said:
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"It has been yet another dizzying week and it can be very easy to get lost in events so let's take a step back.
"It is not typical or normal for Downing Street to be investigated by the police, it is not typical for there to be such a fast or rapid turnover of staff in Downing Street.
"It is not typical to have had an advisor to the prime minister resign and accuse the prime minister she served of using effectively a case of child sexual abuse for political purposes and it is not typical to have a former chief aide of Downing Street [Dominic Cummings] doing everything they can Iago like to destroy the prime minister of the day.
"British politics has been taken to a very unusual place and most of that was just this week.
"Now the prime minister will say and is saying that he's getting on with the job but his critics say that all of this dysfunction flows not from his staff and won't be changed or improved by changing the staff but instead flows directly from the man himself."
It was pretty succinct indeed so reacting to it, people praised Goodall on Twitter:
Excellent piece from @lewis_goodall tonight on @BBCNewsnight It must be exhausting to be a journalist covering U.K. politics at the moment!https://twitter.com/jonlis1/status/1489736757474123776\u00a0\u2026— Professor Feargal Cochrane (@Professor Feargal Cochrane) 1644016927
None of this is normal.pic.twitter.com/G63rJYoS3t— Jonathan Lis (@Jonathan Lis) 1644015895
This summary of Johnson and #DowningStreetParties by @lewis_goodall is for the history books \n\n#Newsnightpic.twitter.com/j4NMtZ3uVT— UK is with EU (@UK is with EU) 1644014773
We just wonder what next week has in store for Johnson.
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