By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson apparently joked to Downing Street staff “this is the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now”, during a boozy Number 10 leaving do, according to ITV News .
ITV revealed the latest claims in an explosive new podcast on the partygate scandal.
The claim aired on Partygate: The Inside Story, is damaging to Mr Johnson’s reputation, and questions his long-held position that he was unaware rules had been broken within Number 10 during the pandemic lockdown.
Claims that only 50% of the parties were ever investigated by Sue Gray or the Metropolitan Police adds to the discredit of Johnson’s government at the time and the Conservative party
Johnson did not deny the claim when presented to him by ITV, but it doesn’t confirm he approved of the break of social distancing.
Several parties took place in downing street during the height of the pandemic, damaging trust in the government at the time.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock was also forced to step down after it was revealed he broke covid distancing rules by snogging lover in his office.
As attacks over party gate became intense, covid vaccinations requirements in clubs were suddenly dashed, and lockdown rules dramatically eased, questioning the true severity of the pandemic and the lockdown imposed on the country which disrupted activities and the normal running of the country.
Hospitals in the Uk were caught exaggerating the number of hospitalisations due to covid when it emerged that patients who arrived for other reasons that were unrelated to the virus were being added to hospitalisation statistics once the tested negative for covid. Every patient arriving in hospital was routinely tested for the virus.
Mr Johnson is still due to appear before a Commons standards committee, which is investigating whether he knowingly misled MPs when he insisted all guidance had been followed at the event. When ITV News put the direct quote to Mr Johnson he did not deny saying it.
Among the new claims are allegations that staff deliberately destroyed evidence of partying before the Sue Gray and Met Police investigations.
Several Number 10 sources, who were instrumental in helping ITV News UK Editor Paul Brand expose wrong-doing throughout the partygate scandal, are heard for the first time, with actors voicing their own recorded words to protect their anonymity.
Claims that only 50% of the parties were ever investigated by Sue Gray or the Metropolitan Police adds to the discredit of Johnson’s government at the time and the Conservative party.