A secret party in Downing Street at the height of lockdown. The prime minister in crisis. The people up in arms about the hypocrisy of their politicians. Does this seem familiar? 

It was first revealed that Downing Street had broken its own lockdown rules back in December. ITV released a video of a rehearsal for a press conferenceA media event in which politicians, individuals or organisations invite journalists to ask them questions. . In it, staff made jokes about their office Christmas party.

Soon afterwards, Boris Johnson himself was in trouble. Photos emerged seeming to show him, his wife, and some colleagues drinking wine in the garden outside Downing Street in May 2020.

Now ITV has acquired an email from Johnson's Principal Private Secretary, Martin Reynolds. Sent in May 2020, it invites more than a hundred Downing Street employees to "socially distanced drinks" in the Number 10 garden.

At the time of the party, people in the UK were not allowed to meet more than one other person outdoors. And it had to be in public. 

Some people are asking: after so many scandals, is this one any different? Perhaps. Before, Johnson has always maintained that the photos showed a business meeting taking place outdoors. Now there is proof of an actual party. The police have every right to get involved.

But some think the problem goes well beyond Boris Johnson. They believe scandals like this are affecting faith in democracy itself.

They suggest that people are already questioning the system. The world is hugely unequal. According to Oxfam, just 26 billionaires own half the world's wealth. Big corporations are crushing small businesses, which still employ around half the workforce. Keeping a job is becoming harder and harder. 

On top of this, they say that there is no future for young people. The next generation faces fewer employment opportunities, more unstable work, low pay and little chance of buying property. For some, this means they have no real stake in the country's future, and not much reason to support the current system.

So when a scandal like this emerges, some fear it cuts people off further. It makes it seem as though there is one rule for them and one rule for us. This might break down all trust in democracy. 

Yes. Democracy is only as strong as the public's faith in it. If they believe the system is rigged against them, they will stop engaging, or even start to support authoritarian alternatives.

No. Governments have been hit by worse scandals before, and gone on to be re-elected. People just expect that politicians are in it for themselves; this is unlikely to change their public image drastically.

Or...? This is not a problem with democracy, it is a problem with Boris Johnson. The Tory Party will let him absorb the public anger and then give him the boot. The system will carry on.