When Will the Real Inquiry Start?

Boris Johnson now faces a third “partygate” probe with the Parliamentary Privileges Committee being instructed by MPs to decide whether he misled Parliament with his repeated mistruths about Downing Street parties during the lockdown. It did not even need a vote in the Commons.

Damaging enough for Mr Johnson, with several Tory MPs using their time in the Commons to call on the prime minister to resign. Senior Tory Steve Baker said the possibility of him forgiving the PM for breaking his own coronavirus rules was "gone", adding: "The prime minister should just know the gig's up." This, after giving him his backing just two days ago.

The real questions are still left unanswered. Were the hastily arranged lockdowns justified? Were any lives actually saved?

Did those lives saved outnumber the lives lost to cancer diagnosis and treatment delays? Hesitancy to call 999 led to a sharp increase in ambulances attending scenes where the patient had already passed away. The mental health of so many deteriorated and suicide numbers rocketed.

The row over whether those in power lied about their breaking of the rules needs to be redirected. It should be about why those rules, opposed by this party throughout, were ever inflicted upon the population in the first place. Clearly those in power didn’t see a risk to their health as they filled the infamous suitcase full of wine from the local off-licence.

If the risk was indeed about saving the archaic relic that is the NHS, then the Party wants answers about Operation Cygnus. The lack of readiness of the NHS was clearly set out in 2016, yet no action was taken by this blustering fool of a Prime Minister or his predecessor.

The best that can be said about Theresa May is that she was the first to question in Parliament, the lack of a cost/benefit analysis for the measures the country was subjected to. That analysis has still not been done. We call for it NOW. Clearly it should have been done before our liberty was taken away. Instead, discredited charts from discredited scientists like Neil Ferguson - another who thought the rules were unnecessary, were used to frighten the population into submission.

Never mind the media distraction of cheese and wine, it’s time the focus was shifted and the real truth was brought to light.

Martin Day – Party Secretary