Why Boris Johnson and the government can’t just ‘move on’ from Partygate

The patience of Conservative MPs and Tory activists is being severely tested, writes Sean O’Grady

It is a deep flaw in the British system of government that so much of the old prerogatives of the crown are now vested in the prime minister personally (PA)

When you hear the phrases “draw a line”, “nothing more to add” and “move on”, it is usually a sign that the opposite will happen: there are going to be more questions, people don’t wish to move on, and a scandal has plenty of life left in it yet.

So, it would seem with Partygate, which has now continued for as long as some of the original Covid-19 lockdowns. As with most scandals, the detail is actually more gruesome than anything the public are being told at any given point, and this also seems to be a characteristic feature of Partygate.

At first, when the video of Allegra Stratton talking about bogus “work events” emerged, the official line was that this was all an enormous shock to the prime minister, he was as angry as anyone, and that he was looking into it. Then the country was assured that no rules were broken, and there were no unlawful parties. Then there was an event in the cabinet secretary's private office. Then events the prime minister attended. The chancellor was at one. The investigations geared up, the police become involved. There were answers given by the No 10 press office to journalists and by the prime minister to the Commons that now look wide of the mark.