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As I see it | Leaks, lies and an illegal Christmas party: what Asia can learn from Boris Johnson’s latest crisis
- The British prime minister is now facing his third scandal in which people close to him flouted Covid-19 rules, putting a question mark over his moral authority
- This saga is not only a cautionary tale about how not to lead, but also an illustration of how a free press helps to keep officials accountable
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Not for the first time during this Covid-19 pandemic, Britain has offered us a cautionary tale on what officials should not be doing to retain crucial public trust in the midst of a crisis.
This time, it has to do with a Christmas party at Downing Street held last December – while the country was in lockdown.
Officials spent much of the last week denying the party even took place.
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But they ended up with pie on their faces after a video was leaked to a television station showing officials joking about the lies a government spokeswoman should tell if she were asked about the event.
With anger among the public and MPs mounting, Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday took to parliament to apologise “unreservedly”, saying he had been “repeatedly assured that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.
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The spokeswoman, Allegra Stratton, meanwhile resigned, saying in a tearful statement her remarks in the leaked video “seemed to make light of the rules, rules that people were doing everything to obey”.
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