Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
Wednesday’s front pages report on news that the former prime minister Boris Johnson – who last year was fined for parties in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns – has been referred to the police by the Cabinet Office over claims he also hosted parties at Chequers, the prime ministerial residence in Buckinghamshire.
The other major lead for the papers is the death of disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris, who died several weeks earlier, but only announced yesterday. Harris was convicted in 2014 for the sexual assault of four underage girls.
New Boris Johnson Partygate probe
Boris Johnson has been reported to the police by the Cabinet Office over more alleged parties.
The Guardian says government-funded lawyers working on Johnson’s defence for the public Covid inquiry discovered the alleged events in his diary. The lawyers then brought these entries to the attraction of the Cabinet Office, which, in accordance with the civil service code, had a duty to refer the matter to the police.
The Daily Mirror’s headline reads “Cops probe Boris again,” while the Daily Express refers to the referral as a “stitch up.” The Daily Mail reports that the former prime minister is “livid” that the government shared extracts from his prime ministerial diaries with the police without informing him.
The Times has been informed that the alleged breaches involved Johnson’s family and friends, although a source close to him denies this claim. The paper emphasises that no ministers were involved.
The Daily Telegraph reports that one of the events in question was a lunch in the garden of Number 10 for Johnson and his late mother, Charlotte Johnson Wahl. Another event is said to have been a meeting with television presenter Kate Garraway, whose husband fell severely ill with COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic. Whitehall sources vehemently deny that these encounters violated any rules.
Rolf Harris dies
A number of the tabloids lead with the death of Rolf Harris. The former entertainer died of cancer several weeks ago and had already been cremated before the news of his death was released. The Sun says the secrecy around his death was a “final snub to his victims,” while the Daily Mirror calls it a “pariah’s send-off.” The i’s columnist Sangita Myska criticises a statement from Harrus’s family that said he “died in peace.” Myska says it is a “peace that will elude his victims for the rest of their lives”.
