Christmas party, leaving drink, wine and cheese in the sun… The revelations follow one another without interruption on the parties organized at the heart of British power during confinement, now at the heart of an investigation by Scotland Yard.
May 15, 2020. A photo published in the press shows the prime minister, his wife Carrie and aides sharing cheese boards and glasses of wine in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown. Boris Johnson spoke “people at work, talking about work”.
May 20, 2020. A hundred people are invited, in an e-mail sent by the private secretary of Boris Johnson, Martin Reynolds, to come ” enjoy the nice weather “ for a jar “with social distancing” in the gardens of the Prime Minister’s residence. The British could then only legally meet one person outside. Boris Johnson apologized to Parliament for spending 25 minutes there, saying he then thought it was a working meeting.
June 19, 2020. Boris Johnson attends a surprise birthday party held in his honor in Downing Street. Up to 30 people take part, according to ITV. A Downing Street spokeswoman claimed Boris Johnson took part “less than ten minutes” at this “brief gathering” of its collaborators.
November 13, 2020. Media reports of a party with aides at Boris Johnson’s apartment despite a second lockdown. The leader ensures that “the rules were always respected”.
November 27, 2020. A farewell party would have been organized for a collaborator of 10 Downing Street, during which Mr. Johnson would have made a speech.
December 10, 2020. The Ministry of Education confirmed the holding of a party where about twenty people had gathered around a few “glasses and canapes”. After the confinement, restrictions were then in force in London, which prohibited different households from meeting indoors.
December 14, 2020. After a photo appeared in the press, the Conservative Party acknowledged an unauthorized party at its London headquarters, organized by the team of then London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey.
December 15, 2020. the Sunday Mirror posted a photo of the Prime Minister, flanked by two aides, taking part in an online quiz. Downing Street admitted the leader had “briefly” participated in the event, stressing that it was virtual.
December 16, 2020. The Ministry of Transport issued an apology for a Christmas party “inappropriate” organized on its premises.
December 18, 2020. 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. saying to themselves ” mad “the Prime Minister said he had “been insured several times” since the beginning of the case that“there was no party” and that’“no rules” had not been violated.
April 16, 2021. According to Daily Telegraphtwo starting pots “watered” are organized in Downing Street the day before the funeral of Prince Philip, husband of the Queen, when Elizabeth II appeared seated alone, at a distance from her relatives, at her funeral in the chapel of Windsor Castle. Boris Johnson claims he was not present at the events, where alcohol was smuggled into a suitcase, as he was at his country residence in Checkers. Downing Street has apologized to the Queen.
Friday drinks. the Mirror claims that every Friday, Downing Street workers ended their working week by sharing glasses of wine, a “long-standing tradition” which has endured despite the pandemic.
