CARRIE ‘BROKE LOCKDOWN TO HAVE PAL STAY’
Friend ‘joined the Johnsons at No10 at Christmas’
DOWNING Street faces questions about whether Boris Johnson and wife Carrie broke lockdown rules last Christmas.
Mrs Johnson’s best friend, Nimco Ali, reportedly joined them at No10 for the festive period even though there were tough social distancing restrictions in London amid a huge surge in Covid cases.
No10 and Mrs Johnson’s spokeswoman deny rules were broken.
The allegations first appeared in the US in Harper’s Magazine which claimed Ms Ali, who is godmother to the Johnsons’ 17-month-old son Wilfred, “spent Christmas with the couple at No10 despite pandemic restrictions on holiday gatherings”.
The article was by Lara Prendergast, executive editor of The Spectator magazine, which Mr Johnson edited before entering politics.
A No10 spokesman said last night: “The Prime Minister and Mrs Johnson have followed coronavirus rules at all times. It is totally untrue to suggest otherwise.”
Mrs Johnson’s spokeswoman issued an almost identical comment. But neither responded to a specific question about whether political campaigner Ms Ali spent Christmas with the pair.
The PM’s official spokeswoman is set to be quizzed this morning about Mr and Mrs Johnson’s arrangements last Christmas. Under the curbs the PM imposed a week before Christmas, the planned relaxation of Covid rules for the festive season was scrapped for large parts of south-east England, and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of the country.
Tier four restrictions were slapped on places such as London and Kent, meaning people could not mix indoors with anyone from a different household.
Social mixing among people who did not live together or were part of a support bubble was cut to meeting one person in an open public space.
Last October, Ms Ali was handed a job as a Home Office adviser on tackling violence against women and girls.
The key position, said to be worth £350 per day, was not advertised.