Johnson joked about No10’s ‘unsocially distanced’ party

BORIS JOHNSON joked that he had attended the “most unsocially distanced party in the UK” during lockdown, it has been claimed.

Mr Johnson allegedly made the remarks in a leaving speech for Lee Cain, his former communications director, at Downing Street on Nov 13 2020, when infection “circuit-breaker” restrictions were still in place.

The former prime minister was not fined for attending the gathering in No10 but received a fixed-penalty notice for a separate birthday party event he was at earlier that year. Speaking to Partygate: The Inside

Story, an eight-part ITV podcast, one of the broadcaster’s sources said: “I was working late – some music came on, the mumbling sort of rose and there were loads of people stood around.

“But this time, I came out because I heard the prime minister speaking and that’s when I heard the quote ‘this is the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now’, and everyone was laughing about it.”

It was also claimed that incriminating evidence was destroyed and “a lot of people started shredding things” after the Downing Street parties, but before the police launched their investigation. “Any proof of the events started disappearing,” the same source said.

Jack Doyle, Mr Johnson’s former head of communications, gave out awards [but they] were nowhere to be seen once that story had come out.

“They were obviously pinned up on walls and things like that, they were awards after all. But they were basically taken down, kept away, shredded, [the] evidence destroyed.”

Dal Babu, a former Metropolitan Police chief, said the force was “brought kicking and screaming” to investigate the scandal after it had initially said there was not enough evidence.

There were claims in the podcast that the mood in Downing Street was “like someone had died” after the leaking of footage of Allegra Stratton, Mr Johnson’s former spokesman, joking about No 10 parties. That prompted an unsuccessful “witch hunt” to find the source, it was claimed.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “As prime minister during a 24/7 national emergency, he worked constantly to ensure the Government did everything possible … to save lives and protect livelihoods.”

The spokesman noted that there was only one source for the reported remarks, and pointed to Mr Johnson’s insistence that he acted within the rules at all times during the pandemic.