Government ministers love to tell us that it’s time to “move on” from partygate.
Dominic Raab was at it again this morning, insisting that despite going through a “difficult patch”, Boris Johnson’s administration is “getting on with the job”.
But unfortunately for the prime minister, just saying it doesn’t make it so, especially when events continually conspire to put the scandal of Downing Street lockdown breach back on the front pages.
The latest episode in the seemingly never-ending Downing Street psychodrama came with the resignation of Lord Geidt as Johnson’s ethics adviser.
He gave little away in a statement announcing his departure on the government website, but we know that he and the PM have had numerous run-ins over partygate, more specifically Johnson’s response to being fined by the police for breaking lockdown rules.
Geidt said the prime minister had “legitimate questions” to answer over whether his fixed penalty notice constituted a breach of the ministerial code, and was therefore a resignation matter. Unsurprisingly, Johnson said it did not.
It’s also clear that Geidt’s appearance before the public administration and constitutional affairs committee on Tuesday was another contributory factor in his leaving his post.
He admitted to “frustration” over the partygate affair, and pointedly refused to deny that he had threatened to resign. Just 24 hours later, he was gone - the second ethics adviser to have quit his post in Johnson’s three years in Number 10.
Which means the PM’s attempts to reset his government after he survived last week’s vote of no confidence - which was preceded by the resignation of his anti-corruption tsar - have suffered a major blow, and will once again give Tory MPs cause to wonder whether he can possibly lead them into the next election.
Indeed, senior backbencher Steve Baker told Politico: “It’s time for the great statesmen and women in the cabinet to rise to the moment and get a grip of this situation before it degenerates any further.”
And things are not going to get better for the government any time soon. Next week’s two by-elections already look lost, while the privileges committee will rule in the autumn whether he misled parliament over - you’ve guessed it - partygate.
No wonder, then, that so many Tory MPs have long since reached the conclusion that the only way the party can possibly “move on” is by removing Johnson from office.