By Ben Kerrigan-
Cries of hypocrisy has followed fresh footage of Chrstmas party in Downing Street during coronavirus restrictions.
Footage has emerged of Number 10 officials joking and laughing about a Christmas party in Downing Street last year during a time of strict COVID restrictionswhen members of the British public why in a period of panic and listening carefully to news bulletins for updates of a pandemic, evidently not as serious as the public thought.
In a video recording of what is reported to be a rehearsal for a TV media briefing, senior Number 10 aides were filmed talking and laughing about a Christmas party, jokingly referring to a “business meeting” and a “cheese and wine” event.
Critics and memebers of the public have branded the revelation hypocritical.
Mental health analyst, Deon Vernhoven told The Eye Of Media.Com: ”it is deeply hypocritical that whilst the public were making huge sacrifices and staying away from loved ones, those who put restrictions in place were brealing it themselves without a care in the world.
”It makes one wonder how much the government actually believed the restrictions to be necessary when they find it funny to be holding parties”
The footage, obtained by ITV News, is said to be from 22 December last year – four days after an alleged Christmas party took place in Number 10.
The PM’s then press secretary Allegra Stratton is featured being asked by colleagues about reports of a party, as they rehearse a news conference in December last year.
In jovial exchanges, she says: “This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced.”
The mock news conference took place in the government’s new high-tech briefing room at 9 Downing Street, on Tuesday 22 December, without members of the media present.
The rehearsal took place four days after the Christmas party, on 18 December. Christmas parties and gatherings in London of two or more people indoors was banned unless it was “reasonably necessary” for work.
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced that strict lockdown rules would be in place over Christmas for parts of England, barring members of the public from seeingf relatives.
Yet, in a stark show of hypocrisy, an estimated “40 or 50” allegedly gathered in a room in Number 10.
Just two days earlier, on 16 December, London had been put into Tier 3 of coronavirus restrictions, which prevented mixing indoors with people not in your household.
Mr Johnson has insisted that COVID rules were followed “at all times” in Number 10, but footage and the claims contained therein seems to suggest ythe contrary.
Mock Questions
In the footage, a voice said to be senior Number 10 adviser Ed Oldfield is heard asking what appear to be mock questions to Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s former press secretary.
“I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night, do you recognise those reports?,” Ms Stratton is asked.
“I went home,” she replies, before laughing and adding: “Hold on, hold on, erm.”
Ms Stratton is then asked: “Would the prime minister condone having a Christmas party?”
She laughs again, before asking: “What’s the answer?”, to which a voice suggests: “It wasn’t a party, it was cheese and wine.”
“Is cheese and wine alright? It was a business meeting,” Ms Stratton adds, to which someone replies: “No… joking.”
“This is recorded. This fictional party was a business meeting… and it was not socially distanced.”
Williamson Also Threw Party
In a seperate revelation, it has been revealed that ex-Education Secretary Gavin Williamson also threw a party during a period of coronavirus rules.
London was at the time in Tier 2, with social mixing between households banned. On December 10 last year when up to two dozen of Mr Williamson’s staff gathered in the Department for Education cafe for “drinks and canapes”
Partying Whilst pupils are at home: Education Secretary Gavin Williamson
In December last year, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood described a 27-person dinner an event initially advertised as a “Christmas party” as a business function,
Ellwood later apologised for having “muddied” the governmnent’s messaging on coronavirus rules.
The leaked footage was recorded in Downing Street’s £2.6 briefing room, designed for the holding of daily televised news briefings.
In response to the leaked footage, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on Mr Johnson to “come clean and apologise”.
“People across the country followed the rules even when that meant being separated from their families, locked down and – tragically for many – unable to say goodbye to their loved ones,” he said.
“They had a right to expect that the government was doing the same. To lie and to laugh about those lies is shameful.
“The prime minister now needs to come clean and apologise. It cannot be one rule for the Conservatives and another for everyone else.”