Don’t tell me that Boris Johnson’s £60 fine was punishment

I watched Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons offer an apology for being found guilty of breaking his own Covid laws. It was a comic, often dramatic occasion using buffoonery. It lived up to the definition of a farce.

I watched supposedly intelligent men and women smirk and goad each another like school yard bullies.

I marvelled at the sycophantic gymnastics performed by Boris’s cronies as they consolidated their positions of power.

Some said that Boris’s apology should be the end of the matter. So if I break the law is it OK if I apologise when caught?

Don’t tell me that Boris’s £60 fine was punishment. Some families have less to feed and heat themselves this month. Boris’s birthday cake and wine probably cost more. Behind this farce thousands died alone from Covid. Their loved ones followed the government’s Covid laws and accepted they could not hold their loved ones in their final minutes, while Boris and his buddies partied.

It was despicable for Boris and his ministers to use the blood of civilians in Ukraine as a deflection tactic in the debate.

It takes a special kind of person to be a politician. Most we can rely on to do what is right. Some see it as a club where they can depend on fellow members to bail them out even when they break the law.

A club where in the hallowed chambers of Parliament they are forbidden to call someone a liar even when they know it to be the truth.

George Larmour, Author of ‘They Killed the Ice Cream Man’