Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, apologized on Wednesday (8) after making public a video showing his team laughing and joking about how to explain a party that would have been held in Downing Street during a Covid lockdown at Christmas last year, when celebrations were banned.
The video aired on ITV Tuesday night and shows Allegra Stratton, who was Johnson’s press officer at the time, rehearsing for a daily 2020 briefing at government headquarters.
In the footage, a Johnson aide asks Stratton, as if he were a journalist, “I just saw reports on Twitter that there was a Christmas party on Friday night in Downing Street. Do you admit these reports?”
Stratton laughs and replies, “I went home.” Then she laughs and smiles. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Uh… uh…”. She seems to run out of words and looks up.
Another advisor comments: “It wasn’t a party, it was a cheese and wine event.”
She then goes back to rehearsing an answer. “This fictitious party was a business meeting… and there was no social distance.”
On Wednesday, Allegra Stratton released a statement saying she had offered her resignation to the prime minister. “I will regret this speech for the rest of my days and offer my deepest apologies to all of you,” he stated.
On November 30th, the Mirror newspaper reported that there were several Christmas parties inside the seat of the British government, including a wine-infused meeting of about 40 to 50 people. Since then, Johnson and his team have denied that any rules had been violated at the late 2020 meetings.
On Wednesday, the prime minister said he was furious with the video, but added that his team had repeatedly assured that there was no party.
“I apologize unequivocally for the offense this has caused across the country and I apologize for the impression it gives,” he told parliament.
According to the prime minister, disciplinary actions will be taken if it is found that the rules have been broken.
“But I repeat…I’ve been repeatedly assured since these allegations surfaced that there was no party and that no Covid rules had been broken.”
A government spokeswoman declined to comment, according to Reuters.
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