After the drunkenness of the party, the migraine. Boris Johnson defended this Wednesday tooth and nail, in the face of criticism from the opposition, his place as Prime Minister suspended from the publication of a potentially explosive report on the parties held in Downing Street during the confinements.
Westminster is in the throes of a veritable war of nerves pending the conclusions of an internal investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray into various garden parties, farewell parties or birthday parties in the circles of power. These gatherings shocked the British, forced by law at the time to drastically restrict their contacts. Back to these feasts that could cost Boris Johnson his job.
A photo published in the press shows the Prime Minister, his wife Carrie (then his fiancée) and aides sharing cheese boards and glasses of wine in the Downing Street garden. While such moments of sociability were prohibited during the first confinement, Boris Johnson evokes “people at work, talking about work”.
A hundred people are invited, in an email sent by Boris Johnson’s chief private secretary, Martin Reynolds, to come “enjoy the good weather” for a drink “with social distancing” in the gardens of the Prime Minister’s residence. The British could then only legally meet one person outside, in a public place. About forty people would have finally participated, including Boris Johnson and Carrie. The manager did not comment.
That afternoon, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson celebrated his birthday with relatives in full confinement despite the rules in force, reports the ITV television channel.
Boris Johnson participated in this party organized by his wife Carrie, during the first confinement, when such gatherings were then prohibited. Up to 30 people are said to have attended, including interior designer Lulu Lytle, who was tasked with carrying out the costly renovation of Boris Johnson’s controversially funded Downing Street apartment.
The media report a party with collaborators in the apartment of Boris Johnson. The manager assures that “the rules have always been respected”. A second confinement was then underway in the United Kingdom.
A farewell drink would have been organized for an employee of 10 Downing Street, during which Boris Johnson would have made a speech despite the confinement. About fifty would have been massed in a room.
The Ministry of Education confirmed the holding of a party where around twenty people had gathered on December 10 around a few “drinks and canapes”. After the confinement, restrictions were then in force in London which prohibited different households from meeting indoors.
After a photo appeared in the press, the Conservative Party acknowledged an unauthorized party at its London headquarters, hosted by the team of then-London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey. The latter has since resigned from the presidency of the police and crime committee of the assembly of the British capital.
the Sunday Mirror publishes a photo of the Prime Minister, flanked by two aides, taking part in an online quiz. Downing Street admitted the leader “briefly” attended the event, stressing it was virtual. The next day, the Department for Transport also issued an apology for an “inappropriate” Christmas party held on its premises.
A Boris Johnson adviser has resigned after joking, in a video that went viral, about a party that would have brought together around 40 people that day in Downing Street. Calling himself ‘furious’, the Prime Minister claimed he had ‘been assured several times’ since the start of the affair that ‘there had been no party’ and that ‘no rules’ had not been violated.
The services of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized to Queen Elizabeth II in mid-January 2022 following new revelations about parties organized in Downing Street the day before the funeral of her husband Philip, in full confinement .
Until the early morning of April 17, 2021, Downing Street employees were celebrating the departure of two team members, according to The Telegraph. The revelers, around thirty, had gathered in the gardens of the official residence. One person had even been sent to a supermarket to buy bottles of wine which they brought back to Downing Street in a suitcase. If, this time, Boris Johnson was not present, these new revelations once again plunge into embarrassment.
- Other breaches of anti-Covid rules
Former influential adviser to Boris Johnson and brain of the victorious campaign for Brexit, Dominic Cummings had admitted in the spring of 2020 to having contravened the anti-Covid rules by traveling with his family in full confinement, which was prohibited. Last June, Health Minister Matt Hancock resigned for breaking health rules by having an affair with a counselor.