// Boris is a decent human being. He makes mistakes and misjudgments, but he's been presented with an unprecedented task and he's worked damned hard. //
I'm sure he's not the only one who's worked "damned hard" through the pandemic, but he's certainly the only one who was responsible for setting strict, if necessary, rules, and then breaking them. It was clear that the concept of having parties -- or even a small drinks session -- at work was prohibited through the lockdown. This message was enforced, for example, throughout the wider Civil Service beyond Whitehall.
I don't, as it happens, think that he should leave office because of the parties. I do, however, seriously question his judgement in failing to realise that the way to make this whole thing a non-issue was to be upfront about it from the start.