PM RULE DOUBTS
BEING FILMED ... BUT HOW CLOSE IS HE?
BORIS Johnson has been accused of breaking his own Covid rules by failing to self-isolate after having close contact with a Covid-positive aide.
The contact came as the Prime Minister recorded his official New Year message on December 31, 2020, five days before a third national lockdown.
No10’s videographer, who sources claimed stood “close” to Mr Johnson, later tested positive for coronavirus.
Others present were asked to selfisolate for 10 days. A source told the Mirror that the videographer, who did not wear a mask, stood “face-to-face” with the PM for around 15 minutes.
Under official guidance at the time, those who came within two metres of somebody (for more than 15 minutes) who later tested positive, were required to self-isolate.
The quarantine rules also applied to those who were face-to-face within a metre – for any length of time – with a person who then developed Covid.
CONTACT
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister was socially distanced from the individual who subsequently tested positive and the duration of the filming was shorter than 15 minutes. This has been reaffirmed by those present.”
But photos on the No10 Flickr account, taken by the videographer, cast doubt on that version of events.
Mr Johnson sparked fury last July when he and Rishi Sunak tried to use a pilot “test and release” scheme to avoid self-isolating after contact with colleague Sajid Javid, who had Covid.
Within hours, the pair were forced into an embarrassing U-turn.
The PM faced further criticism last August for refusing to self-isolate despite sharing a flight to Scotland with an aide who tested positive later that same day. Downing Street claimed Mr Johnson had been seated at the opposite end of the plane.
The claims will come as a further blow to the PM’s authority following allegations of rule-busting parties in Downing Street over Christmas 2020.
Lobby Akinnola, of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “In his message to everyone as we entered 2021, Boris Johnson said how ‘we rediscovered a sense of togetherness’. How hollow those words now feel.”