By Ashley Young-
Bereaved families have accused Boris Johnson of showing “flagrant disregard” for the public as ministers struggled to explain the justification for a wine and cheese event in Downing Street at the height of lockdown.
A Cabinet Office inquiry into other alleged government parties in breach of Covid rules could be expanded after the Guardian published an image showing the prime minister alongside his wife and up to 17 staff in the Downing Street garden in May 2020.
Amid growing fury over the photograph, Johnson said on Monday: “Those were meetings of people at work, talking about work.” Labour dismissed Downing Street’s explanation and said it amounted to evidence of law-breaking.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group said the lack of any signs of work, with red wine and a cheeseboard visible rather than laptops or pens, showed Johnson “presided over a culture of believing that the rules applied only to other people”.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group originally wrote to both the prime minister and the health secretary in June, requesting a meeting, but say they have “been met with an outright refusal to meet with the families or involve them in any review process”.
They also accuse the government of “a failure to commit to a rapid review as part of a statutory public inquiry”.
Unlike other inquiries, a statutory public inquiry has the power to subpoena people and take evidence under oath.
When the news first broke, a few weeks ago, one of its spokespeople, Safiah Ngah, told the BBC: “My Dad died in February from Covid-19, despite being in good health. The last Christmas period is sadly one I will never forget.
“One in 20 people in my borough had Covid-19 and my family were desperately trying to do what we could to keep each other safe. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
“To think that just a few miles away, No 10 was throwing a ‘Christmas Party’, with no care for the rules they had set, is sickening.”
A Cabinet Office inquiry into other alleged government parties in breach of Covid rules, is now expected to extend to the latest revelation of a party in Downing Street, after the Guardian published an image showing the prime minister alongside his wife and up to 17 staff in the Downing Street garden in May 2020.
Jo Goodman, a co-founder of the group, said: “It is exhausting for not only those of who us lost loved ones to Covid-19, but for everyone across the country who sacrificed so much to see the constant, flagrant disregard we have all been held in. We’re not sure how much more the prime minister expects us to take before he’ll accept that he has to be open with the public about these events.
“This supposed work meeting, with no pen, paper or laptop in sight (instead replaced with vital cheese and wine) shows that he presided over a culture of believing that the rules applied only to other people since early in the pandemic. When this photo was taken strangers had to hold dying loved ones hands, funerals were allowed less people than in the Downing Street garden that day and we couldn’t even hug each other for comfort.
“Many of us worry that it may be too late for the prime minister to regain any credibility and authority to implement any future measures to tackle the pandemic. If that proves to be the case it will be time for him to consider what is best for the country.”
Others vented their grief and anger on social media. Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for the north-west of England, said on Twitter: “Here’s Boris Johnson having a meeting (?) in May 2020 whilst the rest of us were complying with Covid rules which included not being able to attend my own brothers funeral because only six of us could and we only had 29 mins to bury him before the next family came.”