Category Archives: boris johnson

Three Tory MPs Call On Boris Johnson To Quit

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Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has become the first Tory MP to call on Boris Johnson to quit as prime minister following his “partygate” apology.

It came after Johnson on Wednesday admitted attending a “bring your own booze” gathering in the garden of No 10 during England’s first lockdown – although he insisted he believed it had been a “work event”.

Ross told Sky News: “Regrettably, I have to say his position is no longer tenable. I spoke to the prime minister this afternoon and I set out my reasons and I explained to him my position.”

Ross said he will write to the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs to express no confidence in Johnson’s leadership.

Tory MPs William Wragg and Sir Roger Gale later joined Ross in suggesting Johnson should exit No.10.

Other Scottish Tories followed Ross’s lead and joined the chorus calling for a resignation.

What Tory MPs are saying

Asked if he thought the PM should resign Douglas Ross told STV News: “I made that clear. There was one simple question to answer yesterday, indeed from Monday night when we saw this invitation which was to more than 100 people asking them to join others in the Downing Street garden and bring their own booze.

“If the prime minister was there, and he accepted today that he was then I felt he could not continue.

“What we also heard from the prime minister today was an apology and he said with hindsight he would have done things differently, which for me is an acceptance from the prime minister that it was wrong and therefore, I don’t want to be in this position, but I am in this position now, where I don’t think he can continue as leader of the Conservatives.”

He added: “I spoke to the prime minister this afternoon and I set down my reasons and I explained to him my position.”

Chairman of the public affairs and constitutional affairs committee and Tory MP for Hazel Grove, William Wragg, has said the prime minister’s position is “untenable”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that: “A series of unforced errors are deeply damaging to the perception of the party.

“The prime minister’s position is untenable.”

Veteran Tory MP Sir Roger Gale said the PM “misled the House” about rule-breaking parties and should resign.

“I think the time has come for either the PM to go with dignity as his choice, or for the 1922 committee to intervene.”

The powerful backbench Tory 1922 Committee was holding a regular meeting on Wednesday, with the prime minister’s future hanging in the balance.

The Scottish Conservatives’ Covid recovery spokesman at Holyrood, Murdo Fraser, has joined the calls. After Ross stated that Johnson should resign, Fraser tweeted: “I fully support @Douglas4Moray in this call.

“I’m afraid the prime minister’s position is no longer tenable, he has lost public trust, and in the interests of the country and the Conservative Party he should step down.”

Scottish Conservative finance spokeswoman Liz Smith also tweeted: “I note that the media believe @Douglas4Moray Ross has made a brave call. He has also made the right call.”

In the Commons, Johnson said that he attended the May 20 2020 gathering for around 25 minutes to “thank groups of staff” but “with hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside”.

The prime minister acknowledged public anger, saying: “I know the rage they feel with me and with the government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules.”

He said an inquiry was examining the situation but accepted “there were things we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility”.

<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.” width=”720″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/three-tory-mps-call-on-boris-johnson-to-quit-2.jpg”>
Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor via PA Media

Downing Street refused to say whether his then fiancee Carrie Symonds had attended the gathering, if Johnson had noticed tables laden with food and drink or if he had brought a bottle of his own into the garden.

All such questions were a matter for senior official Sue Gray’s inquiry, the prime minister’s press secretary told reporters.

But she insisted Johnson had not been sent the invitation email from his principal private secretary Martin Reynolds encouraging colleagues to “bring your own booze” to the garden.

At just after 6pm on the day of the event, the time the invitation had specified for people to gather to “make the most of the lovely weather”, Johnson went into the garden to thank staff for their efforts and stayed for 25 minutes.

“I believed implicitly that this was a work event,” he said.

“With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside.

“I should have found some other way to thank them.

“I should have recognised that even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there are millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way, people who have suffered terribly, people who were forbidden for meeting loved ones at all inside or outside, and to them and to this House I offer my heartfelt apologies.”

Johnson’s press secretary insisted that he was not a liar and “he is not resigning”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also called on the prime minister to resign.

He added: “The party’s over, prime minister.

“The only question is will the British public kick him out, will his party kick him out, or will he do the decent thing and resign?”

The embattled prime minister also faced calls to quit from the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.

Hannah Brady, from the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said that, if Johnson does not step down, then his MPs have a “moral duty” to remove him.

Her father Shaun Brady, 55, died just a few days before the “bring your own booze” event and his death certificate was signed on the day it was held.

The Commons chamber was packed in anticipation of Johnson’s first public response to the leaked email about the May 20 2020 event although Chancellor Rishi Sunak, viewed as a potential successor as Tory leader, was notably absent on a visit to Devon.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Parody Video Tears Into Boris Johnson’s Feeble Response About No.10 Party

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Comic Rosie Holt mimicked Boris Johnson’s evasive answers over the allegedly Downing Street party in a sharp parody sketch.

Holt mocks the way the government has dodged any questions about the supposed drinks party which allegedly took place on May 20, 2020 in No.10′s garden, while the rest of the country was under a strict Covid lockdown.

Using the original questions a Sky News reporter asked the prime minister about the party, Holt posed as an MP who “doesn’t know whether she attended” the drinks event in an online sketch.

Pretending to respond to a question about being at the party on May 20, 2020, Holt said: “Well all that, as you know, is subject to an investigation with Sue Gray so until that report is completed, your guess is as good as mine.

“I don’t know if I attended the party.”

Holt continued: “It’s the age old question: If a tree falls in a forest, but no-one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?

″If there was a party in lockdown when we told everyone they couldn’t even attend funerals, but no-one knew about it, was there a party?

“And Sue Gray is tasked with answering this philosophical question.

“You know, it’s very hard because hypothetically, I could think, “Oh, back in May 2020, I was there with my Rose that I’d got on the way […] with my sausage roll, looking at 40-50 people thinking, ‘ah is this wrong?’

“Well I’m not going to know that until people find out about it and I’m being made to explain myself about it. Hypothetically.”

She continued: ”Until the investigation with Sue Gray has been completed, I won’t know if I’ve been interviewed by Sue Gray…so….”

The video accumulated more than 4,000 likes on Twitter less than an hour after it was posted.

Holt was mocking Johnson’s bizarre interview with a Sky News reporter on the same topic earlier this week.

When asked if he and his wife Carrie attended a No.10 party organised by Martin Reynolds – the prime minister’s principle private secretary – on May 20, 2020, Johnson smiled.

He said it was all “subject to a proper investigation by Sue Gray”.

When pressed again, he started laughing a little and repeated his response.

It’s not only Holt who has mocked this response – especially as both housing secretary Michael Gove and health minister Ed Argar gave the same reply when asked about the same allegations.

Twitter has lit up in response to the so-called ‘partygate’:

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Ethics Chief Accepts Boris Johnson’s ‘Humble and Sincere Apology’ Over Mislaid WhatsApps

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Boris Johnson has been forced to issue a “humble and sincere apology” for mislaying texts about his flat makeover.

In letters published on Thursday, Johnson earned a strong rebuke from his own ethics adviser, Christopher Geidt, for his failure to disclose messages between himself and Tory donor David Brownlow, who contributed £52,000 towards the refurbishment of his flat above 11 Downing Street.

However, he said he stood by his original findings in May that Johnson had not broken the ministerial code.

“The new disclosure did not in fact result in change to my original assessment of your interests insofar as they related to the ministerial code,” he said.

In his report into the flat refurbishment published in May, Geidt reported that Johnson said he did not know that Brownlow had donated the £52,000 from his own pocket until shortly before media reports circulated in February 2021.

However, a separate probe into the flat makeover by the Electoral Commission discovered that Johnson had in fact messaged Brownlow over WhatsApp about the revamp in November 2020.

In a sharply-worded letter, Geidt told the prime minister that his failure to disclose the texts exposed a “signal deficiency in the standards upon which the independent adviser and, by extension, the prime minister have an absolute right to rely in establishing the truth in such matters”.

He added: “Indeed, the episode shook my confidence precisely because potential and real failures of process occurred in more than one part of the apparatus of government.

“I am very grateful to have your apology for these shortcomings and to know of your determination to prevent such a situation from happening again.”

What the texts to Brownlow said

Johnson described parts of his Downing Street flat as “a bit of a tip” as he solicited authorisation for renovations to his official residence

The WhatsApp messages show the PM trying to hurry Brownlow to give the go-ahead as he was “keen” for luxury interior designer Lulu Lytle to progress the work.

On November 29 2020, the prime minister wrote: “Hi David I am afraid parts of our flat are still a bit of a tip and am keen to allow Lulu Lytle to get on with it. Can I possibly ask her to get in touch with you for approvals?”

Later that day, Brownlow replied: “Sorry for the delay I was out for a walk and didn’t have my ‘work’ phone with me. Of course, get Lulu to call me and we’ll get it sorted ASAP!”

He subsequently added: “I should have said, as the Trust isn’t set up yet (will be in January) approval is a doddle as it’s only me and I know where the £ will come from, so as soon as Lulu calls we can crack on.”

In his letter to Geidt, dated December 21, Johnson offered a “sincere and humble apology” for his failure to submit the texts to his investigation, which he said was due to a change in his phone number that meant that he “did not have access to my previous device and did not recall the message exchange”.

And he said it was “unacceptable” that the Cabinet Office did not inform Geidt of the existence of the messages.

He said Brownlow had offered to share the messages with the Cabinet Office but that the department had felt this was inappropriate to receive them while the commission carried out its investigation.

“It is unacceptable that the Cabinet Office did not at the very least inform you of the position they had taken,” the prime minister said.

Following the letter exchange Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Johnson of breaking the ministerial code and of offering “pathetic excuses”.

“Boris Johnson has little regard for the rules or the truth,” she said.

“The ministerial code requires ministers to act with transparency and honesty.

“It is simply impossible to read these exchanges and conclude that the prime minister has not breached these aspects of the code.

“Once again, by attempting to hide the truth, Boris Johnson undermines his own office.

“The prime mInister’s pathetic excuses will fool no-one and this is just the latest in a long line of sorry episodes.”

How did we get here?

The Geidt report centres on a row over how the prime minister’s flat above 11 Downing Street was funded.

Reports suggest that the final bill may have topped £200,000, but with the PM only receiving an annual grant of £30,000 for such renovations, the remaining sum needed to be made up somewhere.

Enter Tory peer and donor David Brownlow, who was found to have made a £52,000 donation go help transform the flat — from a so-called “John Lewis nightmare” into a luxury Lulu Lytle abode.

However, Johnson originally failed to declare the donation in line with parliamentary rules, leading critics to demand an investigation over fears of a conflict of interest.

Two probes were then kicked off: one by the Electoral Commission and one by Geidt himself.

What did the Geidt report initially say?

In his initial investigation into the flat makeover in May 2021, Geidt found that Johnson had “acted unwisely” by commissioning it without full knowledge of how it would be paid for, but cleared the PM of a conflict of interest.

He said Johnson did not breach the ministerial code by failing to declare the donation, and noted that this was eventually done by the prime minister — even if late.

Geidt also said that Johnson appeared not to be aware Lord Brownlow had contributed from his own pocket, saying he was told by the PM that he “knew nothing about such payments until immediately prior to media reports in February 2021”.

Why are we talking about wallpaper gate again?

Geidt was forced to take another look at the flat saga after central findings he came to appeared to be contradicted by the Electoral Commission’s parallel probe.

The commission fined the Conservative party nearly £18,000 for failing to properly report a donation of £67,801.72 from Brownlow’s Huntswood Associates Limited in October 2020, including £52,801.72 connected to the costs of refurbishment to 11 Downing Street.

It also revealed that Johnson sent Brownlow a WhatsApp message in November 2020 requesting additional money for the refurb, in an apparent contradiction of what he told Geidt last May.

Geidt was reportedly left furious that the Whatsapp exchange had not been submitted to his investigation and was potentially on the verge of resigning.

According to the Sun, Johnson has blamed a change in his mobile phone number — after it was made freely available online — for the non-disclosure of the messages with Brownlow.

Following the findings, Downing Street denied that Johnson misled the ethics adviser over the refurb and claimed: “Lord Brownlow did not make a decision about becoming the person to cover the costs until after that exchange.”

It alleged Johnson was asking for a “blind trust” when he sent the texts.

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Should We Really Consider Cutting Covid Isolation To Just Five Days?

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Boris Johnson is still resisting calls to reduce the isolation period for positive Covid cases from seven days down to just five.

The pressure is growing after the US made a dramatic change to its rules this week, having previously ordered those infected with Covid to isolate for 10 days.

Now asymptomatic Americans who tested positive can walk away after five days of isolation, but must continue to mask up for a further five days if they have not received their booster jab.

They do not have to test negative before leaving isolation.

At the moment, vaccinated and unvaccinated people in the UK can leave isolation only if they receive a negative result on a lateral flow test on both day six and day seven of their self-isolation, while unvaccinated people do still have isolate for 10 days if they have been a close contact of a positive case in the UK.

So why do people want to change the rules again?

Why are some pushing for five-day isolation?

  • It would enable more NHS staff to work, strengthening the UK’s frontline against the virus.

  • Approximately 40% of London’s NHS workers are currently in isolation, according to doctors.

  • Up to 800,000 people are thought to be in isolation across the country at the moment, according to The Times.

  • All public services, including bin collections and rail services, have been hit by staff shortages, so reducing the isolation period would benefit a range of industries.

  • Omicron is highly transmissible, but appears to trigger less severe symptoms.

  • The US centres for Disease Control and Prevention said its new measures will “ensure people can safely continue their daily lives”. It also claims that most people’s viral load drops off significantly after five days, making them less likely to be infectious.

  • Professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, Paul Hunter, told the BBC that Covid needs to become “effectively just another cause of the common cold” and so the isolation period needs to be reduced further. He wants five-day isolation periods where people could be released when they tested negative on a lateral flow test.

  • Theresa Villiers, a former cabinet secretary, is also pushing to reduce the isolation period. She told The Daily Mail: “With encouraging data on Omicron…we need some pragmatism to ensure there isn’t another pingdemic.”

  • Professor Tim Spector from King’s College London’s Zoe Covid app also backed reducing the isolation period to just five days to “protect the economy”.

Why others don’t support reducing self-isolation

  • Johnson already reduced the isolation period from 10 days to seven last week, and the effects remain to be seen.

  • The minister for disabled people Chloe Smith also told Times Radio that Downing Street is waiting to see how this goes, and that “we don’t have current plans to change from seven days”.

  • The UK Health Security Agency advised the government to cut the isolation period to just seven days, but it is has not yet recommended any further reductions.

  • Virologist at Warwick Medical School, Professor Lawrence Young, endorsed Britain’s current strategy and told The Guardian: “The approach adopted in the UK is sensible based on seven days and two consecutive negative lateral flow tests. These tests are a great way to determine if you are infectious.”

  • Professor of respiratory sciences, Dr Julian Tang from the University of Leicester, also said the US decision to make positive cases wear masks for five days after their isolation ends would only be effective if masks were worn conscientiously.

  • The government is already struggling to supply the country with enough lateral flow tests and PCR tests. Reducing the isolation period could therefore cause further problems.

  • Elsewhere in Europe, the self-isolation period remains much longer. In Germany, it is a full 14 days unless a PCR test comes back negative, or a local health office permits release. In France, positive cases have to isolate for 10 days.

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Boris Johnson’s Strange Explanation About Where He Spent Christmas Is Raising Suspicion

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When asked about his whereabouts for the last 10 days, Boris Johnson appeared to stutter before arriving at the bizarre answer that he had “been in this country” – immediately prompting speculation among his critics.

Speaking to a BBC News journalist on Wednesday during a tour of a vaccine centre, the prime minister was asked: “Where have you been for the last 10 days?”

Johnson replied: “I’ve been in…I’ve been…in this country.”

He appears to laugh slightly, before adding: “Where do you think?”

Before the reporter could reply, the prime minister said, “thank you”, and starts to walk away from the camera crew.

So it is not very surprising that people weren’t exactly impressed with Johnson’s latest hesitant answers on Twitter.

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Covid Latest: Boris Johnson Confirms 90% Of ICU Patients Have Not Had Their Booster Jabs

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Boris Johnson has told broadcasters that approximately 90% of the patients in ICU with Covid have not received their booster jabs.

During a tour of a vaccine centre on Wednesday, the prime minister said doctors had passed him the data about who had been hospitalised with the virus recently.

The prime minister said: “If you’re not vaccinated, you’re eight times more likely to get into hospital altogether.”

He continued: “The Omicron variant continues to cause real problems. You are seeing cases rising in hospitals.

“But it is obviously milder than the Delta variant and we are able to proceed in the way that we are.”

He claimed it was clear that the boosters are having an impact on reducing the severity of infection, before touching on his controversial decision not to announce any new restrictions ahead of New Year’s Eve.

“I think everybody should enjoy New Year but in a cautious and sensible way,” Johnson said.

While restrictions have been tightened in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, England remains under ‘Plan B’ measures. This includes mandatory face masks in some settings, the use of Covid passes for indoor venues and working from home guidance – but no caps on indoor or outdoor gatherings.

Instead, Johnson urged the public, “take a test, ventilation, think about others – but, above all, get a booster,” in preparation of the annual celebrations on December 31.

The prime minister has been championing the renewed booster drive since the highly transmissible Omicron variant was first identified in November.

He even clashed with some NHS chiefs after he said he wanted every eligible adult to receive a jab by the end of the year – meaning the health service would have to vaccinate around one million people per day.

Johnson said on Wednesday that 2.4 million eligible double-jabbed people have still not taken up the offer a booster vaccine.

The UK also recorded a record number of Covid infections on Tuesday, with 129,471 people testing positive. This data does not include the figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland, due to a difference in reporting practices during the festive season.

However as the Omicron variant supposedly carrying a lower risk of hospitalisation and there is always a lag between infection and hospital admissions, the government has said it is waiting for further data before implementing further restrictions.

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UK Records Daily Covid Cases Above 90,000 Again

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The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in a day in the UK is back above 90,000.

A further 91,743 lab-confirmed Covid cases have been recorded in the UK as of 9am on Monday, the government said.

A further 44 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. Infections had fallen below 90,000 over the weekend when testing typically falls off.

It comes as Boris Johnson’s senior ministers met to discuss the rising tide amid warnings the NHS could be overwhelmed without further action to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.

The government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty briefed an unscheduled meeting of the Cabinet on Monday.

Downing Street denied it was an emergency meeting, saying ministers were being updated on a fast-changing situation.

It comes after the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) warned daily hospital admissions could reach 3,000 without further restrictions.

Earlier, deputy prime minister Dominic Raab refused to rule out the possibility that additional measures could be required before Christmas – now less than a week away.

“I just can’t make hard, fast guarantees,” he told Sky News.

The government has said that it will if necessary recall Parliament to allow MPs to vote on any new regulations it proposes for England.

However, that could prove politically problematic for Johnson, with not only senior ministers objecting to any further controls.

Last week Johnson suffered the biggest backbench rebellion of his premiership with 100 Tory MPs voting against rules requiring Covid passports for entry into nightclubs and other venues.

Any additional proposals could spark another revolt at a time when the Prime Minister is politically weakened by the ongoing row over parties in Downing Street last Christmas and the Tories’ crushing defeat in the North Shropshire by-election.

Johnson has reportedly been presented with a series of options to tackle the spread of the virus, ranging from guidance asking people to limit indoor contacts, to rules on household mixing, social distancing and a curfew on pubs and restaurants, to full lockdown.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Ministers Are ‘Not Nazis’ Says Labour’s Wes Streeting In Extraordinary Take Down

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Labour’s Wes Streeting took down rebellious Tory backbenchers today, telling them government ministers are “not Nazis”.

The shadow health secretary opened his speech in the Commons with an unusual defence of Conservative ministers who have come under fire from their own backbenchers.

Streeting highlighted comments by Tory MP Marcus Fysh who compared Covid health passes – aimed at limiting the spread of Omicron – to atrocities in Nazi Germany.

Streeting told the Commons: “It should not be for me as the shadow secretary of state to point out that we’re not living in the 1930s and the secretary of state and his team are not Nazis.

“On their shoulders rests the health of our nation and the responsibility to protect our NHS. Indeed, it’s a responsibility we all share.

“They need our support and they are owed better treatment than they’ve received from some on their own side in recent days and even this afternoon.”

Mr Streeting said Labour will “act in the national interest” by supporting the motions under consideration in the Commons.

He made the comments on Tuesday before MPs vote on Boris Johnson’s new Covid-19 restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.

They include working from home when you can, face masks in certain settings and what is being dubbed “vaccine passports” for large gatherings.

However, Tory MPs have been in open revolt with some touring the airwaves and writing columns on why they will be voting against the measures.

Fysh argued that the passes, which include being fully vaccinated or receiving a negative lateral flow test, would be “segregating society based on an unacceptable thing”.

“We are not a ‘papers please’ society. This is not Nazi Germany,” the MP told BBC Radio 5 Live.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews called his remarks “completely unacceptable” and he was criticised by a fellow Conservative rebel.

Tory MP Christian Wakeford, who plans to vote against the government alongside Fysh, responded: “Whilst I will be in the same lobby as Marcus, these types of comments are untrue, unhelpful, and truly deeply offensive to the Jewish community.

“Covid restrictions should never be compared to the darkest period in human history.”

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Covid Jabs To Be Available On Christmas Day Amid Booster Chaos

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Covid jabs will be made available on Christmas Day, Downing Street said today amid chaotic scenes as Brits rush to get their boosters.

The booster programme will run right through the festive period in a bid to meet the government’s new deadline of jabbing everyone over 18 by the new year.

It comes as Downing Street revealed that 110,000 people booked a booster jab before 9am on Monday.

Boris Johnson announced the speed-up in an address to the nation last night, citing fears of a “tidal wave of Omicron” that could cause “very many deaths”.

He said every adult over 18 in England who has had a second dose of a vaccine at least three months ago would be able to have their booster from Monday morning.

However, the announcement sparked a rush on vaccine centres with some people saying they have had to queue for more than three hours to get jabbed.

Asked if vaccines were going to be offered on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “Vaccinations will continue to be offered throughout the Christmas period.

“If there is demand on Christmas Day, then we’re confident the NHS will find a way to match it.”

Pressed on whether people would be able to book slots on the website for Christmas Day, he replied: “My understanding is that there will be appointments available on Christmas Day and obviously the NHS will monitor what the demand is.”

He pointed out that the NHS was available for vaccinations last Christmas, but added: “We didn’t see a huge demand on Christmas Day, I think it’s fair to say, NHS can confirm that.

“Should individuals wish come forward we will make sure there is capacity.”

Meanwhile, stocks of lateral flow tests ran out today, with a message on the government website saying there were “no more home test kits available right now” and people should “try again later”.

From tomorrow, vaccinated people who are close contacts of a Covid case will be asked to swab themselves once a day and from Wednesday those attending nightclubs and large events will have to show a negative result if they are not double-jabbed.

Vaccine centres are already warning they are low on doses and at one point the NHS booking system crashed as thousands tried to secure their boosters.

The army and thousands of volunteers are being drafted in to achieve the target of dishing out a million doses a day.

Downing Street insisted there would be enough supplies of the vaccines to speed up the booster jab delivery.

The prime minister’s spokesman also clarified that if those eligible booked in time, it was the actual jab – not just an appointment – that would be met by the end of December.

He added: “We absolutely aim to meet this commitment. It is vitally important. I think we can see the strong response from the public.”

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The Met Confirmed It Won’t Be Investigating No.10’s Alleged Party And People Were Outraged

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The Metropolitan Police announced that it would not be investigating Downing Street’s alleged Christmas party last year – even though it would have breached lockdown rules – and people aren’t happy.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Met admitted they “received a significant amount of correspondence relating to allegations reported in the media” about a breach of lockdown rules at No.10 in both November and December last year.

Referring to ITV’s leaked video of Boris Johnson’s former adviser Allegra Stratton laughing over having a party while the rest of the country was in lockdown, the statement continued: “All the correspondence has been considered by detectives in detail, as well as footage published by ITV News.”

The Met added: “The correspondence and footage does not provide evidence of a breach fo the Health Protection Regulations, but restates allegations made in the media.

“Based on the absence of evidence and in line with our policy not to investigate retrospective breaches of such regulations, the Met will not commence an investigation at this time.”

The Met said it had also spoken to the Cabinet Office about a government inquiry into the party, and added: “If any evidence is found as a result of that investigation, it will be passed to the Met for further consideration.”

It’s worth noting that the policing minister Kit Malthouse was not even able to say whether or not the Met should investigate the alleged party on Monday as well.

There has been a public outcry since the reports about a No.10 party first came to light last week – so this news from the Met did not exactly soothe people.

Some people hit out by claiming the Met investigate other people who breached lockdown rules, so why not Downing Street?

Others wondered what kind of evidence the Met wanted before they felt they could conduct an investigation.

And a handful of Twitter accounts questioned the rules around policing itself…

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