As No 10 partied, just ten of us said goodbye to my war hero father
ON MAY 20, 2020 — the date of the Downing Street lockdown party — I was at the funeral of my Dad, Ken Angell. He died three months short of his 97th birthday. He had received the Legion of Honour for his role in helping liberate France in 1944 — Dad landed by glider in France on D-Day. On March 23, 1945, he took part in the Crossing of the Rhine. Within ten minutes, 62 per cent of his 750-strong battalion were killed or wounded. Because of Covid restrictions, my sister could not travel to Dad’s funeral and his three grandchildren had to watch it on the internet. The maximum of ten people attended his funeral that day at 2pm. It looks as if a lot more than that attended a party at No 10 just four hours later. How would Dad have felt had he known his whole family could not be present at his funeral while No 10 staff partied? I suspect he would have laughed it off, but privately he would have reflected this was not what he had risked his life for in World War II.
PHIL ANGELL, Helston, Cornwall.
I LOST my 80-year-old husband in May 2020. My last sight of him was in the back of an ambulance because I was not allowed to go with him. The next day I had a call to say he had died of heart failure. His funeral was bleak with only ten people allowed. So, you can imagine how angry and upset I was to hear about the bring-abottle party at No 10. They should hang their heads in shame.
PAULINE BINNS, Wakefield, W. Yorks. AT THE time of the bring-your-ownbooze party in the Downing Street garden, my mother was frightened and alone in a care home. I was not allowed to visit her for months before she died just before Christmas 2020. Then I had to sell her home to meet the deferred care fees that had accrued, despite the promise — never fulfilled — from Boris Johnson that no one would need to do this. Yet another empty promise from a Prime Minister who can’t be trusted to run a whelk stall, let alone the country.
ROBIN ALLAN, Street, Somerset.