Can Boris Johnson’s linguistic manoeuvring keep him in Downing Street?

‘Implicitly’ has cropped up time and again in discussions of PM’s alleged lockdown-flouting – what’s going on?

For anyone who has been closely following ministerial media rounds this week, the same slightly anomalous-sounding word has cropped up time and again in discussions of Boris Johnson’s alleged lockdown-flouting social activities: “implicitly”.

The same word has also been used by Johnson’s official spokesperson and, most crucially, the prime minister himself when apologising in the Commons for attending a drinks event in the No 10 garden on 20 May 2020: “I believed implicitly that this was a work event.”