Boris Johnson is resisting suggestions – demands – that his office hand over unredacted What’s App and other diaries and notebooks to the Covid inquiry. The deadline has been extended until Thursday. The inquiry says failing to release the unredacted material would be a criminal offence and the crossbench peer Baroness Hallett, chair of the inquiry, said it was her role, not that of the government, to decide what was relevant.
Former head of the civil service Lord Kerslake said in a radio interview that the documents should be released. He said: “There’s some cover-up going on here to save embarrassment of ministers, but there’s also the Cabinet Office fighting for a principle of confidentiality. I have to say I think they’re misguided on this situation.”
Campaign groups representing bereaved families have said it is “outrageous” that the Cabinet Office thinks it can dictate what material can be released.
BJ, 19 June 1964 2pm New York, is labouring under the emotionally intense tr Pluto square his Scorpio Moon at the moment (though the rapidly approaching birth of his 8th? child may also be involved with that) – certainly wound up until mid June and again through 2024. At the same time he has tr Pluto opposition his Mercury/Pluto midpoint which will lead to mental strain and bitter outbursts.
He’s also got the discouraging transiting Saturn in Pisces wending its way round his whirlwind/typhoon Mutable T Square – exactly opposition his Uranus now for high tension and along with a panicky downer as it opposes his Sun/Neptune midpoint. That gives way from tomorrow as tr Saturn then squares his Sun/Jupiter midpoint until early July – Ebertin describes this as bringing a negative state of mind, incapability and incompetence, loss of good fortune or loss of employment, lack of success. It isn’t hugely strong and Ebertin tends to be overly dramatic in his interpretations but it will undoubtedly damp his normal exuberance. These Saturnine discouragers including his second Saturn Return repeat on and off till February 2024. With a blocked tr Saturn opposition his Pluto in 2024.
He does have tr Jupiter moving into his 8th house from this July onwards for a year which will bring money in so his speaking engagements and/or publishing contracts won’t diminish.
Baroness Heather Hallett, 16 December 1949, a retired judge elevated to the Lords by Theresa May is chairing the inquiry. She is a Sun Sagittarius trine Pluto with her Sun also square a disciplined Mars Saturn in Virgo plus a Scorpio Moon. Her Saturn and Mars square BJ’s Mercury, Sun, Venus in Gemini so she’s a fairly implacable opponent. Her Pluto is also square his head-in-the-clouds, evasive Jupiter opposition Neptune – so she may be just the person to pin him down. Though she’s not having an overly successful year herself with tr Neptune opposition her Mars and square her Sun.
What is intriguing is that her relationship chart with BJ shows a long hangover of hostility and frustration with tr Neptune undermining the composite Sun opposition Jupiter into early 2024; even worse tr Pluto is in a bitterly aggravated square to the composite Mars through till late 2024. High tensions will spill over in 2024/25 with tr Pluto square the composite Neptune; and there’ll be a considerable upheaval/disruption in their connections in 2025/26.
What is odd about relationship charts is that they keep functioning even though the two individuals may have parted company and never meet again. But there is maybe a thought that he will not be happy about damage the inquiry does to his future chances.
Marina Hyde:
‘As you may by now have read, Boris Johnson can’t give the phone he used for most of the pandemic to the Covid inquiry because of security reasons. He says he still has the phone – then again, he says a lot of things. I think the phone has faked its own death and is living in sin beneath the North Sea with Rebekah Vardy’s agent’s phone. Can we drain the North Sea?’
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/02/prime-minister-phoned-it-in-boris-johnson-trouble-handing-over-mobile
“What a titanic historical figure Boris Johnson won’t turn out to be, memorable only for the policy disasters and moral swamps into which his narcissism carelessly led us.”
Depressing but so true.
Brilliant as ever from Marina! You just couldn’t make it up. Government suing it’s own Covid enquiry using the Human Rights Act that it’s desperate to abolish..
More and more Lewis Carroll by the day. Can I be put into a deep sleep until this hideous government is removed?
The Cabinet Office has just released the news that the extent that people died in care homes during Covid will not be released until after the next General Election.
That’s such a stupid statement to release because that tells us everything already. We don’t need the figures. Talk about nail in your own coffin…… !!
The U.K. government is seeking a judicial review to try to forestall the release of the Johnson’s WhatsApp messages to the Covid Enquiry. I doubt very much that this is being done purely to protect the former Prime Minister given the Sunak administration’s hostility towards him and to the fact he is no longer in office so presumably there are clearly other things they are keen not to be revealed
Uranus is approaching Sunak’s sun this month. Will he survive as PM?
I, too, am American, Carson, but I went to school and university in England and have followed British (and American, since childhood, suffering from a severe case of Potomac Fever) politics avidly ever since. I agree Trump is about to face many judges soon and hopefully get his comeuppance for his lifetime of criming.
Sky News is reporting Johnson has handed all his Whats App Messages and Notebooks to the Cabinet Office with a request they be passed “full and unredacted” to the inquiry. That pretty much puts the ball in Sunak’s court and one must assume the government’s continuing unwillingness to release the material is that Johnson is not likely to be the only person damaged by their contents
Hmm difficult to work out whether BJ is shining white with nothing to hide or he’s going down the ‘family annihilator’ route = I’m bringing you lot down with me. Await with interest.
Agreed. Apres moi le deluge.
Anyone know if WhatsApp can retrieve deleted messages? Inevitably the suspicion arises Johnson deleted compromising messages, as he is alleged to have done at the time of the Jennifer Arcuri scandal. I guess Mercury has swaye?
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news-iopc-report-into-boris-johnson-and-jennifer-arcuri-80464/
Johnson for all his faults did not govern alone and all Covid policies would have been signed off by the then Cabinet including his Chancellor Rishi Sunak. There is supposed to be collective responsibility at the heart of British government and the legislation all went through Parliament. This all seems to be forgotten when blame starts being directed she’d out. All of the current furore is clearly tied up with infighting in the Tory Party which is obviously not going to stop anytime soon
Isabel Oakeshott has revealed BJ has 2 (at least) phones, to her knowledge. Wonder if he will submit data from both?
I think all ministers officially have two phones – one for personal life, and the other for work. They are supposed to hand over/forward all official business on the phone to the relevant civil service person. I imagine sometimes the phones and communications get muddled up. Having never forgotten photos of the interior of Boris’ personal car some years ago, I think the chances of a Gemini muddle are extremely high!
Mosr Definitely, all employees of government in senior roles have a ‘work’ phone for business calls. Those phones are the property of the organisation who pays that bill. So … he has to hand over if asked to do so.
“a disciplined Mars Saturn in Virgo plus a Scorpio Moon. Her Saturn and Mars square BJ’s Mercury, Sun, Venus in Gemini so she’s a fairly implacable opponent.”
Thanks Marjorie. Many layers, as usual with these events.
Interesting to also consider the role of Simon Case, head of the Home Civil Service, and Cabinet Secretary. Born 27 December 1978. His Saturn is 13 Virgo, trine Mars 10 Capricorn. Saturn squares Mercury at 13 Sagittarius, Neptune 18 Sagittarius. BJ’s Mercury, 19 Gemini is in focus here too. I even wonder whether Simon Case may outfox BJ in some way, with the fiery Mercury/Neptune allure masking the meticulous bite of Saturn in Virgo? The approaching full Moon on 4th June is 13 Sagittarius. Perhaps it will bring more to light?
Simon Case also, like Baroness Hallett and Boris Johnson, has probably got a Scorpio Moon. I don’t have a birth time. However, he does have Venus in Scorpio (20) conjunct Uranus in Scorpio (19) currently being shaken by tr Uranus. We don’t know what exactly the Cabinet Office is attempting to cover up, what ministers may have been involved, or who is being protected. I suspect this reaches further than Boris Johnson somehow. Part of me thinks that his lifelong ability to create chaos, noise, and excitement has also been useful to those who operate quietly behind the scenes.
The birth of BJ’s latest child will also, as Marjorie suggests, be both a challenge and distraction at some point in June. He’ll then have three very young children to consider, in the year leading up to his 60th birthday. An interesting second Saturn Return, at the very least…..
“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.” Cromwell.
Will Johnson ever suffer punishment for his egregious criminality, incompetence and lies? If so what might we look for astrologically?
What do you mean by punishment?
Criminal charges / public disgrace.
Or the internal hell of always needing to keep moving, making excuses, drinking to null the pain, the constant changing of wives/lovers, lust for power and never being able to form deeper, genuine happy relationships because of mistrust and insecurity.
If only he could feel the remorse of the latter, I’d opt for that. But sociopaths don’t feel things. Karma may intervene in some way and give the nation a laugh. I think I’d settle for him banged up in an orange jump suit, as some big armed robbers girlfriend for a couple of years…..
Gnarly dude, you are so right Boris will lead a life of eternal misery…shedding his chrysalis in its wake constantly moving from one disaster to another ..that is punishment enough.
What is it about people like Johnson and Trump that they always get away without real punishment for crimes and sins that demolish others?
Strongly suspect Trump will get his date with destiny. Way too much anger and frustration with him here despite his minority of MAGA support. I’m American so can’t say much about Brit pols
Methinks Boris doth cough, splutter and protest too much….means there has to be something in them there diaries………