Boris Johnson's allies breathed a big sigh of relief as the Met closed their

investigation into the Partigate scandal with no more fines for the PM.

The police have decided that it's all over. They've handed out those fines that

they want to hand out. The Prime Minister has apologized for the birthday cake

incident. I'm sure he and frankly the rest of the country now want to move on to

those really big issues, the war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis.

Welcome to Payne's Politics, your essential insider guide to British

politics from the Financial Times, with me Sebastian Payne. In this week's

episode we'll be examining the fallout from the end of the police

investigation into rule-breaking parties at the heart of government. As you heard

Minister Kit-Mohouse reference at the top. Should the Prime Minister fear the

fallout from the full investigation by white hall officials Sue Gray, or is he now

safe and dry? Chief political commentator Robert Swimsley,

we'll discuss with special guest Paul Goodman from Conservative home. And later

we'll dig into the economics of the UK's cost of living crisis. Inflation hit

9% this week and pressure is growing on the government to do more, something

anything to help those struggling to make ends meet. But what exactly could

that be? Economics editor Chris Chow's and consumer editor and host of the

FT's Money Clean podcast Claire Barrett will explore. Thank you for joining the pod.

It's been six long months since the party gate scandal took off after media

reports painted a picture of mass rule-breaking at the heart of white hall

during the coronavirus pandemic. It's been four months since the

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