Kirsty Strickland: Focus on Boris Johnson's lies – not his rule-breaking

Her journalism has once again put pressure on Boris Johnson in a way Keir Starmer could only dream of.

In a splash for the Sunday Mirror, a report and accompanying photograph suggests that Boris Johnson hosted a Downing Street Christmas quiz during Tier 2 restrictions last year.

A source told the paper that quiz teams gathered around computers and knocked back the booze as they answered questions, including some from the Prime Minister himself, who appeared via video-link.

READ MORE: Here's why Scotland must seize its moment and go for independence

That gathering would have been against the rules at the time.

Technically, so would the fact that the Prime Minister was in a room with two other people for non-work purposes.

But opposition parties shouldn’t waste time on small fish when there’s a much bigger one there, waiting to be caught.

It is the repeated lying, not the repeated breaches of the rules, that presents most danger for the Prime Minister.

One of the reasons that Boris Johnson gets away with deceitfulness in a way other Prime Ministers would not is because of the futile quest for “balance” we see when his bad behaviour is discussed.

Stating objective truths is now seen as coarse, or unfair. Those who seek to defend our unscrupulous, selfish Prime Minister cite the increasingly polarised nature of political debate and issue brazen pleas for kindness.

So, we’re not allowed to call him a liar. He has been sacked from numerous jobs for lying and continues to lie in the job he now holds but that doesn’t seem to count for much.

READ MORE: Believe in Scotland urge Scots to join this week's independence action

We’re asked to ignore what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears.

When the Christmas party stooshie first hit the headlines, Johnson’s allies and friendly commentators alike asked us to give him the benefit of the doubt.

They spun a tale of misunderstanding, ignorance and a Prime Minister who surely must have been kept out of the loop.

Logic tells us differently. It suggests a truth as clear as any other.

The Prime Minister, either before, during or after, knew about at least one, maybe two or perhaps all of the social gatherings in and around Downing Street that broke the rules in 2020.

Yet still – from the dispatch box to the television studios – Boris Johnson insists he has no awareness of any such gatherings taking place. It is this lie that matters more than the cheese; the wine; the laughter or the rule-breaking.

It shows the culture of contempt that swirls around the corridors of power.

To find a path towards sense in the Prime Minister’s denials, you must first contort logic beyond all recognition.

Does it seem at all plausible that numerous illegal gatherings were held – in No 10, in Boris Johnson’s flat and elsewhere – without his knowledge; without one single advisor or aide giving him a heads-up – even when the scandal hit the headlines and threatened the stability of his teetering government?

Can you imagine a scenario where his lack of prior warning morphed into a total information blackout as the story continued into its second week?

READ MORE: Labour’s return to power could be death knell for the Union

That would be an astonishing feat to pull off and one without any discernible motive.

Does that scenario – the latest in a long line that we’ve been asked to believe – have even a ring of truth about it?

No. It does not. And all those allies of Boris Johnson who pretend it does are guilty of deceit too.

When it comes to lying, the Ministerial Code is clear.

“Ministers who mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister.”

I think, given everything we know about this self-serving Prime Minister, it’ll be a cold day in hell before his conscience gets the better of him and he steps down willingly.

But that doesn’t mean he’s off the hook.

With the scandals and unforced errors coming thick and fast, it would be easy for the voices of opposition parties to get lost in the details.

While we await the next stage of this saga – the next photo, video or eyewitness account of the rule-breaking Downing St parties – Boris Johnson’s opponents would do well to focus on his lies.

More than that, they should point out the arrogance that underpins them.

The Prime Minister thinks we’re all buttoned up the back. He doesn’t care enough about us, his job or his responsibilities to even come up with an explanation for this latest scandal that a five year-old couldn’t pick holes in.

Not before time, the support base he has enjoyed is starting to wear away.

Boris Johnson has shown us what kind of man he is and what his values are many times over his long political career. We know that honesty never has and never will be his policy.