Take note Boris Johnson – moral authority isn’t an optional extra for the government

It’s not just the golden wallpaper or the parties, it’s the rottenness of the whole system, writes Salma Shah

The PM’s authority is draining away after the Christmas party debacle (Getty)

We are faced with yet another government own goal. Just as stark data on omicron pushed us towards more restrictions, a video emerged of Allegra Stratton, a now former spokesperson for the prime minister, apparently joking about a party in No 10 last Christmas. A party that Downing St has consistently denied happened.

The media handling around this by Downing Street has the depth and sophistication of a school child being caught in a lie, with increasingly fantastical responses to straight forward questions. The more journalists probed the more they were fobbed off with rude and what have now proven to be disingenuous answers. “All the rules were followed.” “There was no party.” Embarrassed ministers were all forced to trot out these absurd lines.

The responses sound contemptuous with an added side of disdain for the rest of us, as if asking those to whom we have entrusted power are no longer answerable to us. What a bare-faced cheek to then announce curbs on our lives from the very room we were being mocked from.