//Can somebody please tell
me what is the difference to Boris having a meeting and being interrupted by PEOPLE HE WORKS WITH for a cup of tea and a a slice of cake (even though the cake never made it from the box) any different to anybody else having a slice of cake WITH PEOPLE THEY WORK WITH.//
Let's start at the beginning. From 1st June 2020, the Coronavirus legislation said this:
"no person may participate in a gathering which takes place in a public or private place—
(a)outdoors, and consists of more than six persons, or
(b)indoors, and consists of two or more persons."
It went on to say:
"(a)there is a gathering when two or more people are present together in the same place in order to engage in any form of social interaction with each other, or to undertake any other activity with each other;"
There were exceptions, one of which was:
"(d)the gathering is reasonably necessary—
(i)for work purposes,"
Gathering for a cup of tea and a slice of cake is not reasonably necessary for work purposes. Gathering in the way some politicians and their lackies were seen quaffing wine in the garden of No 10 is not reasonably necessary for work purposes. Gathering where people were invited “to bring their own booze and take advantage of the lovely weather” was not reasonably necessary for work purposes.
So the answer to your question is that there is no difference. I quite agree that it is stupid to suggest that people who have been working together all day should not be permitted to continue their “gathering” for tea and cake. But that’s what the Covid regulations said. The particular passage is utterly ridiculous, but much of the Covid legislation was. Many people (me included) said as much at the time but were howled down because the rules “are to protect the NHS” and (as an afterthought) “keep us safe.”
I have no sympathy whatsoever for the PM, the other politicians and their aides who have become mixed up in this fiasco. They criminalised perfectly normal social behaviour; they introduced these ridiculous measures; they were publicised with the threat of criminal sanctions; the police were instructed to enforce them with gusto. But the politicians and civil servants, it seems, were not aware that they were breaking the law. So if they weren’t, how were people not blessed with their superior intellects supposed to grasp them? Sorry, but they are now reaping what they have sown.