Christmas party row: Tories held raucous second event

The revelations follow the resignation of Allegra Stratton, Johnson’s spokeswoman on the Cop26 climate conference, after a leaked video showed her laughing about the December 18 party. It took place two days after London went into Tier 3, meaning that people were not allowed to mix indoors with anyone outside their household or support bubble.

Johnson said he was “sickened and furious” about the footage. He has said that “all the guidelines were observed” and yesterday told MPs: “I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party.”

In a tearful statement, Stratton offered her “profound” apologies for the comments she made during a mock news conference last year. “My remarks seemed to make light of the rules, rules that people were doing everything to obey,” she said. “That was never my intention. I will regret those remarks for the rest of my days and offer profound apologies to all of you.”

• Leading article: The Times view on the Christmas party dispute

Under pressure from Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, in the Commons yesterday, Johnson offered to help the police investigate claims that a party was held, and said that he had asked Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, to establish what happened. He promised “consequences”, including disciplinary action, for his staff if a party did take place. It has since emerged that on December 14 about 25 people gathered in the basement of Conservative headquarters in Westminster. The event was organised by the campaign team of Shaun Bailey, who was running for mayor of London. Bailey attended the party, at which people wore festive hats and he received a Lego set as a Christmas present from a donor.

Revellers damaged a door and staff were disciplined. No 10 aides were said to have been among those present.

At the time London was in the Tier 2 level of restrictions, meaning all socialising indoors between households was banned. Hours before the party Matt Hancock, then the health secretary, gave a news conference announcing that the capital would move into Tier 3.

On December 16, two days before the No 10 party, Johnson tweeted: “This Christmas it is vital that everyone exercises the greatest possible personal responsibility. Think hard and in detail about the days ahead and whether you can do more to protect yourself and others.”

Last night a Conservative Party spokesman confirmed the “unauthorised social gathering in the basement of Matthew Parker Street” and said that “formal disciplinary action was taken against the four CCHQ staff who were seconded to the Bailey campaign”.

At about the same time, a Christmas quiz is understood to have been organised for officials and Conservative advisers working for the prime minister, with invitations sent out in advance. One source said that the quiz took place in the “control centre” established at 70 Whitehall by Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former chief adviser, while another said that people stayed late drinking.

Downing Street sources said that the quiz was “entirely virtual” and that it therefore could not have taken place at 70 Whitehall. They conceded that some people might have taken part from their desks in communal offices.

Despite Johnson’s promise yesterday to hand evidence of any parties in Downing Street during lockdown to the police, Scotland Yard said that it did not have enough evidence to begin an investigation. Conservative MPs were incensed by the row, with Sir Roger Gale saying Johnson “doesn’t appear to know what’s going on in his own building”.

In the end Boris Johnson acted ruthlessly. After weeks of dodging questions about Downing Street’s rule-breaking Christmas party he went to the House of Commons yesterday with one overriding aim: to secure his own political survival.

He told MPs that he had been “sickened and furious” to see his aides joking about the party in a leaked video and insisted he had been “repeatedly assured” that the event on December 18 had not taken place.

He announced that the cabinet secretary had been asked to “establish all the facts and to report back as soon as possible”.

Witnesses confirm that Johnson was in the building at the time the party is supposed to have taken place

ANDY RAIN/EPA

Johnson added that it went “without saying” that if rules were broken, there would be “disciplinary action for all those involved”.

His comments in effect ended the career of Allegra Stratton, whom he had handpicked to be his spokeswoman before demoting her when he decided to abandon a plan for televised TV briefings.

The remarks also potentially put in the firing line more than two dozen Downing Street staff — civil servants and political aides alike — who are understood to have attended the party.

Johnson’s hope will be that the inquiry will temper the fury of his backbench MPs who see this as yet another self-inflicted political wound. It will also allow Downing Street to stonewall any further claims and allegations by citing the now ongoing inquiry.

Yet Johnson is not out of the woods and his own inquiry could come back to haunt him. Witnesses confirm that Johnson was in the building at the time the party is supposed to have taken place, finalising plans to cancel people’s Christmas plans the following day.

Downing Street is not a big place and it is hard to conceive that the prime minister was unaware of the festivities going on around him.

Yet he has now in effect told the Commons that he was unaware of any party, and misleading the House would be extremely serious.

He will hope that the inquiry by Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, is narrow in focus. However, Case has an obligation to the civil servants in Downing Street as well as the prime minister.

If witnesses say Johnson knew about the party Case will be in a deeply invidious position.

The Metropolitan police said last night that it would not investigate the party as there was no evidence of a Covid breach and it did not investigate retrospectively. The force said it had looked at the Allegra Stratton video and a “significant amount of correspondence” it had received.

“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,” it said.

The force did not rule out acting if further information emerged and said it would consider “any evidence” from the Case inquiry.

Arguably, if Downing Street had taken a different approach from the outset, things might have been different.

All those who attended the event worked together every day anyway and were having to take regular coronavirus tests. An admission that they had had a few drinks after work might have generated a few bad headlines but certainly not this kind of crisis.

As it is, the Downing Street denials that anything untoward took place at all has come back to trouble Johnson in the most spectacular fashion.

The prime minister bought himself time and political space yesterday. He is not out of danger.

What has happened?
A leaked video of aides laughing about a Christmas party held at No 10 last year became public on Tuesday (Oliver Wright, Fiona Hamilton and Eleni Courea write). The clip made Downing Street’s position that no such event took place untenable. Boris Johnson apologised for the video, which was leaked to ITV, at prime minister’s questions and offered to help the police to investigate.

What does the video show?
In the recording Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s spokeswoman at the time, joked about a party during a mock press conference with other No 10 staff. The video shows her smiling and pausing when asked about the party before saying: “I went home.” Ed Oldfield, a media adviser, asks: “Would the prime minister condone having a Christmas party?” Stratton laughs and asks: “What’s the answer?”

Has the prime minister admitted the party happened?
No. He said yesterday he had been “repeatedly assured” that there was no party and no rules had been broken, and that he was therefore “sickened and furious” about the video. He told the Commons that he had asked Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, to establish what had happened and said that there would be “consequences”, including disciplinary action, if the party had taken place.

Are the police involved?
The Met said that it would not investigate the party because of “absence of evidence” and in line with its policy “not to investigate retrospective breaches of such regulations” but would consider any new evidence. Asked by Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, whether he would support the police and the Crown Prosecution Service “by handing over everything the government knows about parties in Downing Street”, Johnson replied: “Of course we will do that.”

Do we know that a party took place in Downing Street?
Johnson’s official spokesman had insisted that no party took place. However, the prime minister has never gone that far. On Tuesday he was asked twice whether a party had occurred and twice refused to answer the question, insisting that “guidelines are followed at all times”. The Times has been told that a prearranged party did take place on the night of December 18. It was organised by relatively junior civil servants on a WhatsApp group, with staff asked to bring Secret Santa presents. About 30 people are understood to have attended, all of whom worked together and were being tested every three days for Covid-19.

What restrictions were in place at the time?
The event took place two days after London went into Tier 3, meaning people were not allowed to mix indoors with anyone outside their household or support bubble. There were exemptions for work but the government guidance said: “You must not have a work Christmas lunch or party, where that is a primarily social activity and is not otherwise permitted by the rules in your tier.”

Does that mean the party was illegal?
Not necessarily. While the government set out guidelines for what people should and should not do in the tiers this was not necessarily the same as the legal regulations that underpinned that guidance.

What do the regulations state?
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Local Covid-19 Alert Level) (Very High) (England) Regulations that came into force on October 14 last year stated that no gathering which “consists of more than 30 persons” was allowed indoors. However, there were exemptions. One of these was if the gathering was necessary “for work purposes”. Although all the people at the party were understood to work together, a prearranged party would not appear to fall under this exemption. However, paragraph nine of the regulations goes further. This states that a “gathering is a permitted organised gathering if it takes place on or at premises operated by a business, a charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution or a public body”. This exemption was put in place to allow people to go to work and No 10 would have been covered. There does not appear to be a distinction in the regulations between a gathering held for work purposes and a social gathering of the same people. So Johnson could be right — within the letter of the law — to say that the rules were being followed.

Could No 10 have any other excuses?
There is also a suggestion that the Public Health Act 1984 — on which Covid-19 regulations are based — could provide an exemption for government buildings such as Downing Street. However, even more than the above, using this as a get-out clause would be seen to be stretching credibility.

If the party was against the law what would the punishment be?
The organiser could be fined £10,000 and those present £200 each.