‘The contempt we’ve seen boils my blood’
MPS VENT ANGER AT DOWNING STREET REVELATIONS
NEWCASTLE’S leaders have spoken of their fury at a “shameful” Christmas party at 10 Downing Street while the nation was in lockdown.
Reports emerged last week of a party at No 10 last December 18 at a time when London, like the North East, was under Tier 3 Covid restrictions – with indoor mixing with people outside your own household banned and Christmas parties specifically prohibited.
Leaked footage sent to ITV News on Tuesday showed senior staff, including the Prime Minister’s then press secretary Allegra Stratton, laughing as they rehearsed questions about such a party taking place.
No 10 initially said all rules had been followed before later denying any party had taken place. Boris Johnson has now ordered an investigation.
Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah said: “I really think, especially if you watch the full video, you feel like they are in a different world where people were not dying in their hundreds from Covid every day and you didn’t have families separated and people spending the Christmas season on their own.
“They have such contempt for people, it makes my blood boil.
“I think of my constituents and the heartbreaking stories I have heard, the emails from people asking me what the right thing to do was.
“People were asking me if it was OK to stand two metres apart and just smile at their grandmother because they wanted to do the right thing and protect everybody.
“Then you have this privileged bunch laughing about it. The more you think about it, the worse it gets.”
In the leaked video footage of a mock televised press briefing on December 22 last year, adviser Ed Oldfield asks Ms Stratton: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night. Do you recognise those reports?”
He adds: “Would the prime minister condone having a Christmas party?”
Ms Stratton, Mr Oldfield and a number of other staff then make a series of jokes about a party, referencing “cheese and wine” and a lack of social distancing.
Ms Stratton, a former BBC and ITV journalist, then laughs as she responds: “This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced.”
Newcastle North Labour MP Catherine McKinnell said she had been contacted by many “furious” constituents.
She added: “The footage of the Prime Minister’s aides, laughing and joking about their Covid rule-breaching Christmas party, was happening at the same time as my constituents were separated from their families, unable to visit relatives who have since passed away, businesses were collapsing and schools were shutting.
“Once again, the Prime Minister believes that the rules that everyone else has to follow simply don’t apply to him and his mates.”
Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes said: “The most serious damage this does is to public health. Quite rightly, people will ask if the Prime Minister and his office do not follow the rules then why should I?
“A lot of hard work will be needed over a very long time to restore public faith in our government. Ultimately the only winner is the Omicron variant.”