Boris Johnson faces intensifying anger from senior Conservatives today despite launching a review into claims that a Christmas party was held in No 10 during lockdown.
The prime minister told MPs this afternoon that he was “sickened and furious” about the recording in which Allegra Stratton, who was his spokeswoman at the time, joked about a party during a mock press conference with other Downing Street staff.
Johnson said he had asked Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, to establish what happened in December last year and said there would be “consequences” including disciplinary action if the party had taken place.
Stratton quit her role as a spokeswoman for Cop26 shortly after the prime minister’s comments.
But Johnson, who also said that “of course” he would pass any evidence about parties in Downing Street to the Metropolitan Police, faces serious recriminations from his party colleagues, who are incensed by the row.
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Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said he did not believe Johnson’s assurances that a party did not take place and said he should quit as prime minister if he is found to have misled parliament.
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Ross said it was clear that a “party of sorts” had taken place, telling the BBC: “”If the prime minister knew about this party last December, knew about this party last week, and was still denying it, then that is the most serious allegation. There is absolutely no way you can mislead parliament and think you could get off with that. No one should continue in their post if they mislead parliament in that way.”
Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links, Ross’s predecessor, was more direct, blasting Johnson’s “pathetic” response to the allegations. “None of this is remotely defensible,” she wrote on Twitter. “Not having busy, boozy not-parties while others were sticking to the rules, unable to visit ill or dying loved ones. Nor flat-out denying things that are easily provable. Not taking the public for fools.”
The video shows Stratton smiling and pausing when asked about the party before saying: “I went home.” Ed Oldfield, a broadcast media adviser to the prime minister, then asks: “Would the prime minister condone having a Christmas party?” Stratton laughs and replies: “What’s the answer?”
Staff attempt to help her formulate a response. “It wasn’t a party, it was cheese and wine,” says one. “Is cheese and wine all right?” Stratton asks. The staff member who made the comment seems to say: “No . . . joking.”
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“It was a business meeting,” Stratton adds. She then warns her colleagues “this is recorded” and adds: “This fictional party was a business meeting . . . and it was not socially distanced.”
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, said he was “repulsed” by the video, while Johnson opened prime minister’s questions by saying: “I understand and share the anger up and down the country at seeing No 10 staff seeming to make light of lockdown measures, and I can understand how infuriating it must be to think that people who have been setting the rules have not been following the rules because I was also furious to see that clip.
“I apologise unreservedly for the offence that it has caused up and down the country and I apologise for the impression that it gives. But I repeat that I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken.”
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Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said Johnson’s statement raised “more questions than answers” and contrasted his behaviour with that of the Queen.
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“Her Majesty the Queen sat alone when she marked the passing of the man she had been married to for 73 years,” Starmer told the Commons. “Leadership. Sacrifice. That is what gives a leader the moral authority to lead. Does the prime minister think he has the moral authority to lead and stick to the rule?”
Meanwhile the most senior civil servant at the Department for Education admitted that she attended a Whitehall Christmas party during lockdown last year. Susan Acland-Hood told MPs that the event, instigated by the then education secretary Gavin Williamson, would form part of Case’s inquiry. Around two dozen people attended.
“While this was a work-related gathering, looking back we accept that it would have been better not to have gathered in this way at that particular time,” she said.
She confirmed that anyone found to have broken rules, including herself, would face disciplinary action.
Robert Halfon, the chairman of the Commons education committee, said he was “seriously upset” by the revelation, and that it was “pretty grim given that children were being sent home, schools were being shut down.”
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Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former senior aide, claimed that parties had been held in the prime minister’s Downing Street flat during the lockdown, including one on November 13 last year. He tweeted: “Will the CABSEC also be asked to investigate the *flat* party on Fri 13 Nov, the other flat parties, & the flat’s ‘bubble’ policy...?” The claim has previously been denied by No 10.
The Times revealed yesterday that the party on December 18 was organised on a WhatsApp group, with staff asked to bring in Secret Santa presents.
About 30 people are understood to have attended the event, which was held in the main press office within Downing Street. Staff working in other parts of the building are said to have joined later. 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.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, said he was repulsed by the video: “For me, we all had to follow the rules. It was a pretty miserable time. Many people couldn’t see their loved ones, many people couldn’t go to work. I think all of us have seen that video and have been pretty repulsed by it and angry about what is going on.”
Tobias Ellwood, a former cabinet minister, called for Case to investigate. Robert Halfon, chairman of the education committee, told Today on Radio 4: “Those who were doing the video should apologise for the insensitivity of it when people were suffering and struggling all through that time.”
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The video is understood to have been recorded by a company contracted by Downing Street to run the live broadcasts. The contract ended when Johnson scrapped the briefings.
Charles Walker, the senior Tory backbencher, told the BBC: “The No 10 party means that any future lockdowns will be advisory, whatever the law says.” He added: “People if required in law not to meet friends and relatives will say, ‘Look, it didn’t happen last year at No 10 Downing Street and it’s not going to happen this year then at No 10 Acacia Avenue.’ ”
Sir Roger Gale, another senior Tory, called for answers “fast”, comparing the row to Cummings’s lockdown-breaking trip to Barnard Castle: “People prevented by the government from seeing their loved ones at the end of their life will conclude that they were taken for fools.”
Do we know for certain that a party took place in Downing Street?
Unlike his official spokesman, Boris Johnson has not denied it. The Times has been told that a prearranged party did take place on the night of December 18 last year. It was organised by relatively junior civil servants on a WhatsApp group, with staff asked to bring in 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.
What were the Covid rules at the time?
London had just gone into Tier 3 restrictions, 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 was clear: “Although there are exemptions for work purposes, 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 against the law?
Not necessarily. While the government set out guidelines for its various tiers they were not all legally binding.
Legislation passed in October last year — the Health Protection (Very High alert level) regulations 2020 — prohibited indoor gatherings of more than 30 people unless it was necessary “for work purposes”. Although all the people at the party were understood to work together a pre-organised party would not appear to fall under this exemption.
However, the law appears to have gone further. It 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 Downing Street 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 to say that, by the letter of the law, the rules were being followed.
Could Downing Street have any other excuses?
There is also a suggestion that the Public Health Act 1984, on which the Covid regulations are based, could provide an exemption for government buildings. This would not fly politically: using it as a get-out clause would be seen to be stretching credulity.
If the party was against the law what would the punishment be?
The organiser of the party could be fined £10,000 and all those who attended fined £200.
What is Boris Johnson doing about it?
He has tasked Simon Case, the most senior civil servant, with looking into the circumstances of the party and whether any rules were broken. He said that staff could face disciplinary action depending on the outcome.
If the event is found to have been within the letter of the Covid regulations Johnson and Downing Street’s instincts may be to tough it out. They may not want to throw junior officials who had been working intense 18-hour days to the wolves. But staff in the leaked video may find it difficult to keep their positions. Allegra Stratton has resigned.
