Labour said that a fresh Partygate revelation on Sunday implied that Boris Johnson instigated one of the No 10 parties that he has denied attending.

[13 November 2020 is the date that Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, and communications director, Lee Cain, left their roles. Sources reported loud music and sounds of a party coming from the flat occupied by Johnson and his wife on this date – though Downing Street denies there was any rule-breaking.]

Andrew Sparrow www.theguardian.com 

The deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, spoke out after the Sunday Times reported that a gathering that took place in Downing Street on Friday 13 November 2020 took on the nature of a leaving party only after Johnson arrived and started pouring drinks.

She said: “While the British public was making huge sacrifices, Boris Johnson was breaking the law.

“If the latest reports are true, it would mean that not only did the prime minister attend parties, but he had a hand in instigating at least one of them. He has deliberately misled the British people at every turn.

“The prime minister has demeaned his office. The British people deserve better. While Labour has a plan for tackling the cost of living crisis, Tory MPs are too busy defending the indefensible actions of Boris Johnson.”

The revelation will intensify demands for a Commons debate this week about whether Johnson lied to parliament when he told MPs repeatedly that parties did not take place at No 10 and that Covid rules were followed at all time.

The opposition parties have been discussing how best they could force a vote on this, and one possibility is tabling a motion saying Johnson has been in contempt of parliament.

Johnson has already said that he intends to correct the record when MPs return to the Commons on Tuesday after their Easter break. It will be his first appearance in the chamber since accepting a fine for breaking lockdown rules at a gathering in June 2020 to mark his own birthday, and he is expected to issue a fresh apology for what he claims was an inadvertent breach of the rules.

However, Johnson continues to insist that he never intentionally misled MPs in his many comments on Partygate in the Commons chamber. The ministerial code says intentionally misleading MPs – lying to them – is a resigning matter.

Johnson is facing three more fines over Partygate, one of which relates to an event he attended to mark the departure of Lee Cain, his communications director, in November 2020.

According to the Sunday Times, this did not feel like a leaving party until Johnson himself turned up. “He said he wanted to say a few words for Lee and started pouring drinks for people and drinking himself,” a source told the paper.

This account has been confirmed to the Guardian by a source familiar with what happened. Nobody had organised a leaving do in advance – although it was usual at the time for staff in the press office to drink on Friday evenings – but apparently when Johnson encouraged people to join in, staff felt obliged to.

The police are investigating this event and another gathering on the same day in the PM’s Downing Street flat, where his wife, Carrie Johnson, is alleged to have held a party to mark the departure of Cain and his ally Dominic Cummings, who had been Johnson’s chief adviser.

In December last year, the Labour MP Catherine West asked Johnson directly at PMQs if there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November. Johnson replied: “No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”

On Sunday, the Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, revealed that she had written to the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, asking if he would allow Johnson, and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to be held to account by MPs for misleading parliament. Sunak also received a fixed-penalty notice last week for attending the birthday party for the PM – inadvertently, he claims – despite having told MPs he did not attend any parties.

In her letter, Lucas said: “It is … appropriate that MPs have a way of scrutinising what’s happened, and for [Johnson and Sunak] potentially to be found in contempt of parliament.”

Lucas added that the matter could be referred to the standards committee or the privileges committee, or MPs could hold a vote on a motion saying Johnson was in contempt of parliament. “The last would be quickest and therefore potentially most appropriate,” she said.

The opposition parties, who have been discussing tactics before a potential vote, accept that Johnson would probably win because of the size of the Conservative majority. But they believe it would be embarrassing for Tory MPs to have to vote to exonerate him.

On Sunday, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit minister, told Radio 4’s The World This Weekend that he thought Johnson had spoken “in good faith” about Partygate.

Referring to the birthday party penalty, Rees-Mogg said: “Many people would think that they were in accordance with the rules, when they were meeting people they were with every day, who happened to wish them a happy birthday, because that was the day it was.

“I think that was a perfectly rational thing to believe. Now the police have decided otherwise and the police have an authority. But he wasn’t thinking something irrational or unreasonable, that that was within the rules.”

New findings in a CPRE research report show a 1000% increase in short-term lets nationally in 2015-21, with most in rural staycation hotspots – all while 176,000 families wait on social housing lists.

[Owl missed this in January]

www.cpre.org.uk  13th January

Our analysis of data on properties on Airbnb and similar sites shows that a massive 148,000 homes that could have otherwise – or in some cases, previously were – used as homes by local families are instead being put up on short-term and holiday lets.

And this massive jump in holiday lets, taking local homes off the market for young families and others, is set against the backdrop of the steep decline in the completion of much-needed new social housing projects since 2013.

Holiday honeypots

Our data shows startling figures in locations such as Cornwall, Devon, South Lakeland and Northumberland, and is often combined with social housing waiting lists that are lengthening year on year.

In fact, in many of these rural areas these waiting lists could be drastically reduced or even eliminated if the number of properties advertised for short term let were available for local families.

Instead, the analysis shows that in South Lakeland, for example, which saw a 1,231% increase in short term listings between 2016-20, roughly half the families in need of social housing could be accommodated in properties exclusively available for holiday rentals.

And in Cornwall, which saw short term listings grow 661% in the five years to September 2021, there are roughly 15,000 families on social housing waiting lists and the same number of properties being marketed as holiday let.

This is why we at CPRE want to see changes made to protect the housing needed by people in rural areas and to curb the runaway spread of shifting to pricey short-term lets.

As our chief executive, Crispin Truman, says:

‘There simply has to be a government response to the fact that our rural housing supply is disappearing into an unregulated short-term rentals market that simply didn’t exist six years ago.’

‘A problem that’s quickly getting out of hand’

We’re calling for tighter controls on second home ownership, including higher council tax on second homes and the requirement for short term lets to have planning permission.

Additionally, the definition of ‘affordable’ must be changed in national planning policy, with rents being tied to local incomes rather than market prices.

And time is of the essence. As Crispin puts it:

‘It’s clear the government needs to act fast to avert a growing housing crisis. With the cost of living set to hammer people’s finances in the coming year, this is a problem that’s quickly getting out of hand.’

We’re frustrated at rural people being left behind and need action soon. We want to see the government’s forthcoming Planning Bill seize the opportunity to level-up housing and make changes to law and policy to require at least one new genuinely affordable home for every market home built.

Crispin summarises the risk of leaving the rural housing crisis, worsened through short-term lets, unaddressed:

‘Across our most traditional rural communities, from the beaches of Cornwall to the lakes of Cumbria, homes that used to be rented to local families sit empty for much of the year. Hard-working people are suffering and they will not easily forgive a government that promised to level them up if it leaves them falling through the cracks of a broken system.’

Concerns over Tory election candidate’s drink driving conviction

Genevieve Riviere’s election campaign includes photos posing with Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez – who is the national lead for roads safety – Tory MP Johnny Mercer, Michael Gove and even the Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Concerns have been raised about a would-be Plymouth city councillor who is campaigning about law and order despite being a convicted drink-driver currently banned from the roads. Conservative candidate for Stoke Genevieve Riviere’s election leaflets and associated social media posts feature her alongside police and crime commissioner (PCC) Alison Hernandez.

Just six months ago, Ms Riviere was handed a 17-month drink-driving ban, fined £230 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £34 victim surcharge. She now wants to represent the Conservatives in the Stoke area of the city and is promoting her candidature by being seen alongside leading Tories.

Last week, Ms Riviere met the secretary of state for levelling up, communities and housing Michael Gove, which Stoke Ward Conservatives promoted as “Genevieve Riviere putting Stoke Ward on the radar of the Rt. Hon. Michael Gove.” In February, she was pictured with chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak. And Plymouth Moor View MP Johnny Mercer appears with her in a photo at Smeaton’s Tower.

In her campaign leaflets, Ms Riviere describes how she believes in “combatting crime and anti-social behaviour,” and her Facebook page shows her meeting police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez in the ward. Ms Hernandez is the PCC national lead for road safety, and also chair of the South West Road Safety Peninsular Partnership – a road safety coalition campaigning to eradicate road traffic deaths by 2040.

One local resident who does not want to be named said: “This is supposed to be people setting an example. How can [Ms Riviere] be seen out campaigning with a police and crime commissioner who is trying to improve road safety?”

Asked about her prominence in election publicity of a prospective Conservative councillor convicted of road safety offences, Ms Hernandez responded only about general issues around road safety.

In a statement, she wrote: “It’s a fact that many ordinary people who are normally law abiding fail to consider their driving behaviour when behind the wheel, from speeding to drink or drug driving. It’s one of our communities’ biggest concerns.”

She continued: “It’s why I’ve invested in roads policing to help identify and rectify the potential serious damage that people can do on our roads to others. From educating us on speed awareness training to more serious prosecutions of prison sentences.

“I know life can be stressful and people aren’t always thinking of others which is why we must do everything we can to help remind people of the consequences. Through the Vision Zero partnership collectively we want zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2040 and we still have a long way to go to achieve that. I’m thankful the police are out there doing their job on our roads and catching people to prevent a serious incident occurring.”

In January Ms Hernandez spoke about the police’s Christmas drink-driving campaign in which 200 arrests were made.

“Drink and drug driving is a choice people take which endangers lives and it is completely unacceptable,” she said.

Ahead of that campaign, she said: “Those found guilty of this crime face losing their licence and even going to prison, which could cost you your job and livelihood.”

Because Ms Riviere’s conviction did not result in a prison sentence of more than three months, she is eligible to stand as a councillor. The court hearing was covered by PlymouthLive in October last year here.

She is not the only Plymouth Tory who has faced recent drink-driving convictions. Cllr John Riley (Cons, Moor View) was banned from driving two years ago. Cllr Riley is cabinet member for governance, HR, IT and community safety; a role which has responsibility for crime and anti-social behaviour and the Safer Plymouth Community Safety Partnership.

Genevieve Riviere and the chairman of Plymouth, Sutton Devonport Conservatives were both contacted about this issue but said they had nothing to add to the statement by the police and crime commissioner.