A video that was obtained by ITV News shows government staff joking about last year’s number 10 Christmas party held during the lockdown.
In the video, Boris Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton is rehearsing a press conference in December last year after the government continued to insist no party took place.
At the time of the party, government restrictions stated that people should not be attending Christmas parties – and gatherings in London of over people indoors were banned. According to reports, around 40-50 people attended the government party.
Number 10 continues to insist that there was “no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times.”
Responding to the video, Labour MP David Lammy, said it was a “kick in the face” to nurses and doctors who spent the pandemic working in hospitals.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer commented: “People across the country followed the rules even when that meant being separated from their families, locked down and – tragically for many – unable to say goodbye to their loved ones.”
“They had a right to expect that the government was doing the same. To lie and to laugh about those lies is shameful.
“The prime minister now needs to come clean and apologise. It cannot be one rule for the Conservatives and another for everyone else.”