The scandal erupted against the backdrop of a new wave of pandemic due to the Omicron strain and the possible tightening of antiquarian measures in Britain.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been under criticism for several days due to information that appeared in the media that during last year’s tough lockdown, parties were held at the government residence in London without observing quarantine measures. Correspondent.net tells the details.
Party members have always disliked their prime minister
At a time when ordinary Britons were forbidden to visit even dying relatives, Prime Minister Boris Johnson participated in a Christmas quiz surrounded by colleagues.
As the Daily Mirror newspaper wrote at the end of November, citing sources, a total of 40-50 people gathered at this party. The day after the party, Johnson announced at a press conference that the Christmas holidays were effectively canceled due to the tightening of the lockdown during the holidays.
But when the newspaper was published, the press service of the prime minister’s office said that no rules had been violated during the party. Over the next several days, the press service and members of the government, including Johnson himself, continued to deny the existence of any party.
However, on December 7, ITV TV released a video of a rehearsal of a briefing at the press center of the Prime Minister’s residence, in which Boris Johnson’s advisers, including his press secretary Allegra Stratton, joke about how to answer uncomfortable questions from journalists about last year’s party.
In this video, Stratton is surprised with a laugh: “Is it true how to answer?” She then says that it was not a party at all, but a business meeting with wine and cheese, but without social distance. The next day, all cabinet ministers canceled interviews with journalists.
EXCLUSIVE: Video obtained by ITV News shows Downing Street staff joking about a Christmas party on 18th December last year.
No 10 has spent the past week denying any rules were broken. This new evidence calls that into question. pic.twitter.com/nKYK0tG0dQ
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) December 7, 2021
On December 9, it became known that the parliamentary investigation will concern not only the Downing Street party on December 18, 2020, but also two other celebrations in violation of coronavirus rules – one in the same building in November and the other at the Ministry of Health in December 2020.
Labor leader Kir Starmer has already stated that the video is an insult to all those who observed a lockdown last year and were forced to celebrate Christmas without their family members.
“They had the right to expect the government to do the same. To lie and laugh at it at the same time is shameful. Now the Prime Minister must tell the truth and apologize,” Starmer said.
The scandal erupted amid a new wave of pandemic due to the Omicron strain and the possible tightening of antiquarian measures. The prime minister’s rating collapsed because of this.
According to the YouGov sociological service, two-thirds of the kingdom’s population is negative about the prime minister, and only a quarter is positive. This is the lowest figure for a prime minister since his move to Downing Street.
The coming week will be critical for Johnson, the Guardian said. Several dozen Conservative MPs are threatening to oppose the new coronavirus restrictions. Many of them believe that the situation does not require such intervention.
The incident seriously undermines the authority of the authorities, writes the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. Party members have always disliked the charismatic loner, but as long as he could win elections, he was tolerated and supported, the newspaper notes.
“Now, with the Labor Party leading the polls, tolerance is gradually coming to an end,” the newspaper said.
Ireland could take advantage of the British government’s weakness to advance its position in the Northern Ireland protocol negotiations, the Irish Independent hopes.
“We can be confident that our valiant senior officials and diplomats, who have honorably defended Ireland’s interests in the post-Brexit world since June 2016, will closely monitor developments in British politics,” the newspaper writes.
Johnson’s early departure from the post of British prime minister could pave the way for better conditions for the kingdom’s exit from the European Union for the north and south of Ireland, according to the material.
“Great Britain has already made serious concessions, and calm and confident diplomacy may well rely on them,” the article says.
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