British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stormed after news of an alleged pre-Christmas party in Downing Street. A party that would have been organized last December while Britain was in lockdown due to the pandemic.
Johnson’s official spokesperson has repeatedly denied the event, no party and story made up by the media. But the details would emerge from a searing footage arrived at Itv which would demonstrate how the prime minister’s staff instead organized it, breaking the anti Covid rules, between giggles and jokes. And, as reported by the Bbc, the oldest national broadcaster in the world, as well as the most authoritative in the United Kingdom, even one of its sources confirmed to the British broadcaster that a party would be held on December 18, in the presence of “several dozen” people.
A big problem for the premier, now in the eye of the storm, given that at the time the government guidelines on the coronavirus were very strict: they specifically stipulated that people should not organize Christmas parties, and the meetings in London of two or more people indoors were prohibited, unless they were “reasonably necessary” for the job.
The facts would date back to 18 December 2020 and it seems there were about 40 people at the party in Downing Street. Four days later, the government headquarters wanted to “test” the daily briefings BoJo wanted to keep the population informed about what was happening. And in the meeting between government colleagues, the spokesperson was asked if the rumors about the party that were already circulating on Twitter were true: her words were accidentally recorded and surfaced in recent days.
In the leaked video of Itv News, popped up a year later on the Daily Mirror, we see Prime Minister Allegra Stratton’s then press officer, chatting with colleagues who pretend to be journalists and those who pursue her. “It was a business meeting,” she cuts short at the end, smiling condescendingly. “And he wasn’t socially distanced.”
It is the latest slip of the British premier who asks embarrassing questions, with Britain wondering whether the government has used, in the worst months of the pandemic, a double standard on the rigor required, one for citizens, another for the “happy few” (the privileged) of the executive.
Yesterday the prime minister also spoke: “What I can tell you is that all the guidelines have been observed, and continue to be observed.” Meanwhile, the Secretary of Health, Sajid Javid, should have appeared in the programs Breakfast e Today of the BBC, but his presence was canceled. Now Scotland Yard has intervened to clarify what really happened: it will examine the video to see if there have actually been violations.