OFF THE AIR!
Sky news star Kay in trouble over her 60th Covid-buster birthday bash
KAY Burley and a string of Sky News staff have been taken off air after the channel launched a probe into claims they broke virus rules while celebrating her 60th birthday.
The veteran journalist was absent from presenting duties yesterday after issuing an apology for ‘inadvertently’ breaching Tier Two restrictions during the event in London on Saturday.
She and her close friend, Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby, attended a birthday dinner with eight other friends and colleagues at Soho’s Century Club restaurant.
Miss Burley later ‘popped’ in to another restaurant after the 11pm curfew. It was claimed some of the group then returned to her London home to continue the party. Miss Burley later issued an apology for what she described as an ‘error in judgment’.
But the Mail understands Miss Burley – a bedrock of Sky News – and the others who attended the dinner have been taken off air while an internal inquiry is carried out.
They are understood to be upset by the repercussions as they believed the celebrations were ‘Covid compliant’. A friend of a member of the group said everyone was ‘pretty devastated’ as some had worked for the channel for many years. Late last night, Miss Burley tweeted that she was always due to be on annual leave in Africa from the end of this week, saying: ‘ Lovely people, whatever else you read be safe in the k n o wl e dge I was always heading to my beloved Africa on Friday to sit with lions.’ That means she is unlikely to be on TV screens until next year, and leaves her future at Sky mired in uncertainty.
After hosting the dinner for ten colleagues on Saturday,
Miss Burley ‘popped’ in to another restaurant after the 11pm curfew. Sky colleague I n z a mam Rashi d also attended the dinner, during which the group spread out a c r oss t wo t a bl e s . He appeared to have further breached Covid rules by travelling from his home in Manchester, in Tier Three, to the restaurant in Tier Two.
Upon leaving the venue, Miss Burley went to Folie restaurant, which was half a mile away, to ‘spend a penny’ while she waited for a taxi. It is understood she then returned to her London home to continue the party with four coll eagues, thought to have included Mr Rashid and exroyal correspondent Paul Harrison but not Miss Rigby, who left after the meal. Under
Tier Two regulations, you are not permitted to mix inside your own home with people not from your household. You are also not allowed to eat inside a restaurant with anyone outside your household. Groups from different households can dine on outside terraces and in al fresco areas.
The Century Club has a heated outdoor roof terrace.
Miss Burley wrote on Twitter after the news broke: ‘I want to apologise to you all for an error of judgment.
‘On Saturday, night I was enjoying my 60th birthday at a Covid-compliant restaurant. I am embarrassed to say later in the evening I inadvertently broke the rules. I had been waiting for a taxi at 11pm to get home. Desperate for the loo I briefly popped in to another restaurant to spend a
‘Pretty devastated’
‘Spend a penny’
penny.’ She is subject to an internal review, Sky confirmed.
A spokesman denied anyone had been suspended and said: ‘A small number of Sky News staff may have engaged in activity that breached the guidelines.’
Back in May, Miss Burley grilled minister Michael Gove Dominic Cummings’ car journey from London to Durham. She also questioned Matt Hancock on Professor Neil Ferguson’s breach of restrictions to visit his girlfriend.
Last week pop star Rita Ora was caught celebrating her 30th birthday with a party at a Notting Hill restaurant.
A spokesman for Folie said Miss Burley popped in to pay a bill from a recent food delivery and went to the toilet.