UK Politics

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has called on Boris Johnson to resign after the prime minister admitted attending a No 10 drinks party during the height of lockdown restrictions.Just hours after Mr Johnson’s apology to MPs, Mr Ross said his position was “no longer tenable”, saying: “I spoke to the prime minister this afternoon and I set out my reasons an I explained to him my position”.Mr Ross, who is also an MP at Westminster, added he would write to the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs to register his lack of confidence in the prime minister, according to the BBC.“He is the prime minister, it is his government that put these rules in place, and he has to be held to account for his actions,” the Scottish Tory chief added.“I don’t think he can continue as leader of the Conservatives.”His call was echoed by William Wragg, a Tory MP who chairs the Public Affairs and Constitutional Affairs Committee, who said the prime minister’s position was now “untenable”.“A series of unforced errors are deeply damaging to the perception of the party,” he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme. “I don’t think it should be left to the findings of a civil servant to determine the future of the prime minister and indeed who governs this country.”Earlier, veteran Tory backbencher Sir Roger Gale also told the broadcaster: “Politically, the prime minister is a dead man walking.”“We know that the prime minister spent 25 minutes at what was quite clearly a party,” he added. “That means that he misled the House”.While Mr Johnson’s apology to the House of Commons appears to have won him time, Conservative MPs at Westminster remained deeply unhappy with his handling of the party scandal.Several made clear they believe that an adverse finding from Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray could cost him his job. Her report into the row could be published as early as next week.One senior Tory told The Independent that MPs in double figures have now submitted letters of no confidence in the prime minister to the chair of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady – with some even going in this afternoon following Mr Johnson’s apology.Sir Graham needs 54 letters before ordering a vote of no confidence in which a majority of Tory MPs could oust the prime minister.Several MPs said that they did not expect the threshold to be reached before the publication of Sue Gray’s report, with many waiting to see the findings of the Whitehall mandarin before deciding whether to act.The executive of the 1922 Committee – an influential body representing backbench Tories – is understood to be meeting this afternoon.One former minister told The Independent: “There is immense concern, and frankly the excuse doesn’t get anywhere near washing. There are a lot of meetings going on discussing what to do about this and when.”Sir Roger Gale said: “The prime minister has said what he has said at the despatch box: he spent 25 minutes at what he described as a work event,” said Sir Roger.“Well, I’m sorry, you don’t have ‘bring a bottle’ work events in Downing Street, so far as I’m aware. And you don’t have ‘bring a bottle’ work events that are advertised or invited by the prime minister’s private secretary.“The prime minister said on 8 December from the despatch box that he was reliably assured that there were no parties – well, we now know there was at least one party and probably more, and that at least one of them, the one he spent at least 25 minutes at, he attended.“I think the time has come for either the prime minister to go with dignity as his choice, or for the 1922 Committee to intervene.”Welsh secretary Simon Hart acknowledged the “frustration and hurt” felt by voters over the reports of parties at No 10.“I don’t live on a different planet,” the cabinet minister told Welsh journalists in a regular briefing. “The frustration and the hurt and indignation and the incredulity that emerging stories like this produce. I’ve got, like everyone, family and friends asking me these questions. We have to get to the bottom of this.”Asked if he could still trust the PM, Mr Hart said: “I know – because I know the guy – he is as anxious as anyone to have this resolved. “I’ve got to know him sufficiently well to be able to say with confidence I trust him. He is the leader of the government, I’m a member of that and as far as I’m concerned he’s in a very similar position to me in wanting this to be resolved and the facts to be out there and people to make judgements we can all rely on.”Former minister Dan Poulter said he was “pleased the prime minister has apologised” but said Mr Johnson’s position would be “untenable” if he was found to have misled parliament.Dr Poulter told The Independent: “It is not much consolation to those of us who cared for patients on the frontline of the NHS and saw them die of Covid.“I hope the inquiry is conducted very quickly and should the PM be found to have actively mislead parliament or if he faces criminal sanction – or both – then his position would be untenable.”Tory backbencher Bob Blackman, who yesterday said people were “rightly furious” over the alleged parties, told The Independent: “The apology is welcome but we will have to see what the outcome of the investigation is.”The Harrow East MP declined to say whether Mr Johnson would have to go if the Gray report found against him: “There’s no point having a report if you are going to pre-empt what it says.” More

Boris Johnson’s claim he believed the Downing Street drinks party he attended during lockdown was a work event has been described by lawyers as “nonsense” that would be “laughed out of court”.Adam Wagner, a barrister and expert in Covid law, said the PM’s apology in the House of Commons was “carefully worded and obviously lawyered” but “doesn’t make sense at all”.And Raj Chada, a defence lawyer, said he could not see how the prime minister’s explanation of his actions had “any legal basis”.Mr Johnson admitted attending a “BYOB” gathering in the garden of No 10 during England’s first lockdown in May 2020, when social contact with more than one person was banned. But he claimed he “believed implicitly that this was a work event” – despite Martin Reynolds, a senior No 10 official, inviting 100 people to what he described as “socially distanced drinks”.The news of the party – one of a number of gatherings allegedly held in Downing Street during the pandemic – has sparked anger among MPs and bereaved relatives of Covid victims.Speaking in Commons before he faced Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Mr Johnson acknowledged the public’s “rage” but insisted he thought his actions could have been “technically” within the rules.He told MPs: “No 10 is a big department with a garden as an extension of the office which has been in constant use because of the role of fresh air in stopping the virus.“When I went into that garden just after six on May 20, 2020, to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 minutes later to continue working, I believed implicitly that this was a work event.”“With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside, I should have found some other way to thank them, and I should have recognised that — even if it could have been said technically to fall within the guidance — there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way.”Human rights lawyer Adam Wagner gave a withering assessment of the PM’s “carefully worded and obviously lawyered” apology – pointing out the use of the words “believed”, “with hindsight” and “technically”.Writing on Twitter, the barrister said the PM was implying that “millions of people are wrong in their interpretation” and suggested he was only issuing an apology to “save face”.He added: “This is very much about his personal liability – he is implicitly denying he knew what the event was, had seen the email or had anything to do with it. “Because here’s the key point: on the wording of email (’bring your own booze’) this couldn’t technically have been a work event.“Although, he might say that even a boozy party for staff was ‘reasonably necessary for work’ to thank staff for their hard work during the pandemic. I doubt that would hold weight given the govt guidance at the time discouraging workplace gatherings.“Also, how do you believe something implicitly? Is the point that he didn’t really understand the rules he had set? Or not particularly engaged with them?“The ultimate point is that at the time if anyone had asked the prime minister or health minister whether it was lawful to have a social work gathering outdoors for 100 with alcohol and food they would have answered with a very hard ‘no’. “This is all ex post facto face saving.“It is proper nonsense and doesn’t make any sense at all given what the government were telling everyone else to do at the time.“Also, if any photos or video appear and it looks like a party then the whole defence of ‘I didn’t know it was a party’ goes out of the window.”At the time of the party, Covid regulations meant people could only meet one other person from a different household outdoors while following social distancing guidelines.Government guidelines also said workers “should try to minimise all meetings and other gatherings in the workplace”, and “reduce the number of people you spend time with in a work setting”.They added: “Only absolutely necessary participants should attend meetings and should maintain 2m separation throughout.”Yet Mr Reynolds’ email to No 10 staff said: “After what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No10 garden this evening.“Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze!”Mr Chada, the head of the criminal defence department at Hodge Jones and Allen, said of Mr Johnson’s statement: “If any client had tried to use this, it would have been laughed out of court. The cross examination would have been brutal: do civil servants/politicians normally ‘bring a bottle’ to work events?“I cannot see that his defence has any legal basis as you were meant to be working from home if you could.”Just 10 days before the party, Mr Johnson had addressed the public to thank them for “put[ting] up with restrictions on freedom” and for having “shown the good sense to support those rules overwhelmingly.” More

A Conservative MP has claimed a No 10 drinks party held during lockdown restrictions was organised to “welcome back” Boris Johnson after his recovery from Covid.The North Dorset backbencher Simon Hoare added that he understood the event was also a “way of saying thank you” to cabinet minister Dominic Raab for “holding the fort” during the prime minister’s absence.However, a spokesperson for Mr Raab said it was “categorically untrue” and that did not attend the event and “wasn’t invited”.It comes after the prime minister issued an apology in the Commons and admitted attending the event on 20 May, 2020 in the Downing Street rose garden when over 100 Downing Street staff were invited to “bring your own booze”.Facing calls to resign, Mr Johnson acknowledged the “rage” of the public and MPs, but also attempted to claim that he thought it was a “work event” — a suggestion that was ridiculed by the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.Speaking on Sky News, the Tory MP Mr Hoare said “I don’t know” when asked if Mr Johnson can survive the latest revelations about rule breaking and make it to the next general election amid growing Conservative anger.However, he added: “As I understand it, and this is a third-hand understanding, this was a party organised to say, in the first instance, welcome back prime minister.“He had been in hospital, I think I’ve got the timeline right, and recuperating at Chequers. It was also a way of saying thank you to Dominic Raab for holding the fort”.He added: “So whether the prime minister knew it was taking place or whether everybody just humped out of the shrubbery and said ‘Surprise’, I don’t know”.Pressed on the comments from Mr Hoare, the prime minister’s press secretary sidestepped questions over whether the gathering was arranged as a “welcome back” for the prime minister, who was admitted to hospital on 6 April, 2020 after contracting Covid.He did not return to Downing Street until 27 April after spending time recuperating at his Chequers residence.Referring to the investigation by Sue Gray, the senior civil servant tasked with probing alleged rule breaking in government buildings, the press secretary added: “It’s a matter for the independent review”.But Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, seized on the comments from Mr Hoare, saying if Mr Raab “also attended this party he needs to come clean”.“The public has a right to know if any other senior Tories were at this party while the rest of the country was locked down,” she insisted.“Rather than running away hundreds of miles, the Chancellor, who lives next door, should finally answer questions of how he could have been unaware of boozey parties immediately outside his own office. Time for them all to come clean.”However, a spokesperson for Mr Raab said: “It’s categorically untrue — he wasn’t invited and didn’t attend”. More

Boris Johnson did not receive an invitation to the “socially distanced drinks” held in the garden of Downing Street on 20 May 2020, No 10 has said.The PM’s press secretary said that the email inviting staff members to enjoy the sunshine at a “bring your own booze” event during lockdown was not sent on Mr Johnson’s instruction and he was not among the estimated 100 people to whom it was addressed.But the press secretary was unable to explain how the prime minister knew that he should attend the event, which he told the House of Commons he joined for 25 minutes in order to thank staff for their work.Mr Johnson’s claim that he believed the gathering to be a work event would be more difficult to sustain if it could be shown that he saw the invitation sent out by his principal private secretary Martin Reynolds.Mr Reynolds’ comment that “after what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden” leave little doubt that it was intended as a social event.Downing Street confirmed that Mr Reynolds remains in his post – one of the most influential in Mr Johnson’s inner circle – and continues to enjoy the PM’s full confidence.No 10 refused to confirm whether Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie joined him at the event, as eye-witnesses have suggested. And the press secretary refused to say whether other ministers took part, whether the prime minister gave a speech and whether he brought a bottle.She said that all these were issues to be determined by the ongoing inquiry by Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray, whose findings Downing Street does not want to pre-empt.Downing Street also refused to say whether Tory MP Simon Hoare was right to suggest that the event was in fact a party to welcome back the PM after his return from being treated in hospital for Covid and a thankyou to deputy prime minister Dominic Raab for taking the reins in his absence.In a lengthy grilling by journalists following Mr Johnson’s Commons apology, the PM’s press secretary repeatedly dodged questions on the detail of the event by saying: “Matters around guidance, the nature of any gatherings and attendance are a matter for the independent review to determine.”No 10 was unable to give any date for the publication of Ms Gray’s report, but said that the PM will publish it in full.The PM’s official spokesperson declined to commit Mr Johnson to accepting any recommendations by the Whitehall mandarin, pointing out that her remit is to establish the facts around a series of reported parties and she will not necessarily make proposals for action.“ Sue Gray has the prime minister’s backing to carry out this important work and establish the facts,” he said. “Without seeking to preempt the findings of the review, she has his full backing and he will accept the fact that she establishes.”In response to reporter’s questions, the press secretary denied that the prime minister was “a liar”, but said that the issue of whether he lied about this particular occasion was a matter for the Gray report to determine. More

The government’s use of a VIP fast lane for suppliers of Covid personal protective equipment (PPE) with connections to ministers and officials has been ruled unlawful by the High Court.Campaigners from the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor took the Department of Health and Social Care to court over claims that suppliers with political links were given an unfair advantage in obtaining contracts running into hundreds of millions of pounds.In a ruling released today, judge Mrs Justice O’Farrell found that the VIP lane system was “in breach of the obligation of equal treatment”, adding: “The illegality is marked by this judgment.”At the height of the first wave of coronavirus, a number of bids to supply PPE such as gowns, masks and gloves were passed on to officials by ministers including then health secretary Matt Hancock after they were approached directly by contacts.The groups took legal action over more than £340 million in contracts awarded to pest control firm PestFix and a contract worth around £252 million to the hedge fund Ayanda Capital.They argued that suppliers including PestFix and Ayanda were prioritised “because of who they knew, not what they could deliver”.DHSC contested the claim, telling the court it “wholeheartedly” rejected the case against it and that the VIP lane was rational and resulted in a “large number of credible offers” in an environment where PPE deals often failed within “minutes”.The court found that offers introduced by “senior referrers” such as ministers or high-ranking officials received “earlier consideration” than others submitted under the normal processes.“The High Priority Lane Team was better resourced and able to respond to such offers on the same day that they arrived,” said the ruling.And the judge that “there is evidence that opportunities were treated as high priority even where there were no objectively justifiable grounds for expediting the offer”.However, she found that both of the companies’ offers “justified priority treatment on its merits” and were “very likely” to have been awarded contracts even without the VIP lane.Barrister Jo Maugham, the director of the Good Law Project, said: “Good Law Project revealed the red carpet-to-riches VIP lane for those with political connections in October 2020. And the court has now held that, unsurprisingly, the lane was illegal.“Never again should any government treat a public health crisis as an opportunity to enrich its associates and donors at public expense.”The chief executive of campaign group EveryDoctor, Dr Julia Grace Patterson, said: “We brought the government to court because NHS staff and other frontline workers were woefully unsupported and unprotected by this government. “Many were provided with no PPE and many died. The government must never again be allowed to conduct themselves in this manner during a national healthcare crisis”.The ruling noted that some of the equipment supplied, including aprons, gowns and masks, could not be used in the NHS. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called for a full independent inquiry into the VIP fast lane system.“While our hardworking NHS staff were going without PPE, Tory politicians saw an opportunity to line their cronies’ pockets,” said Ms Rayner. “A judge has now ruled the VIP lane unlawful but that may be just the tip of the iceberg.“Even now ministers are covering up key documents while critical messages and minutes have gone missing.“Only a fully independent investigation will get to the bottom of how £3.5bn of taxpayers’ cash were handed out in crony contracts and ensure it can never happen again.” More

Bookmakers have shortened the odds on Boris Johnson being replaced as prime minister following outrage over his attendance at a “bring your own booze” event at the height of lockdown.Several Tory MPs have broken rank to say the No 10 garden gathering on 20 May 2020 may be resigning matter – warning that Mr Johnson’s position could soon be “untenable”.Mr Johnson is now odds-on to be replaced in 2022, according to one leading betting firm. “Our betting indicates the PM is unlikely to see out the year in No 10,” said Coral’s John Hill.Chancellor Rishi Sunak is the favourite to replace Mr Johnson if there is a leadership contest, narrowly ahead of foreign secretary Liz Truss.Mr Sunak is 9/4 to be the next prime minister, while Ms Truss is 22/5, according to Oddschecker, a comparison site compiling odds from leading British bookmakers.Senior backbencher Jeremy Hunt – who lost out to Mr Johnson at the Tory leadership contest in 2019 – is 11/1 with several bookies, while cabinet minister Michael Gove is further out at 16/1 with several firms.Two-thirds (66 per cent) of voters – including 42 per cent of those who backed Tories at the last election – polled by Savanta ComRes said Mr Johnson should resign over the party issue, up 12 points on a similar survey in December.Mr Johnson apologised at PMQs for attending a gathering in the No 10 garden during England’s first lockdown. He acknowledged the public “rage” over the incident – but insisted he thought it was a “work event” and could have been said to “technically” fall within the guidance.Tory MP Sir Roger said he had concluded that Mr Johnson had “misled” the Commons with his previous denials. “Politically, the prime minister is a dead man walking,” he told the BBC – calling on the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories to “determine how we proceed”.Conservatives have said that backbenchers are now “definitely” having conversations on how to replace Mr Johnson in 2022 following a turbulent couple of months.One “red wall” MP told The Independent Mr Johnson’s opponents in the party could easily gather the 55 signatures required for the 1922 Committee of backbenchers to initiate a vote of no confidence – but they won’t move until they have dozens more behind his removal.Ms Truss was reportedly “quietly wooing” fellow Conservatives in recent weeks in the event of a contest, but a spokesperson for the foreign secretary said “she meets MPs regularly to discuss foreign policy, and previously trade policy”.Allies of Mr Sunak are also said to have been sounding out fellow Tory MPs for support for a leadership bid if a contest were to take place.According to regular ConservativeHome surveys, Ms Truss remains the most popular cabinet member among Tory supporters. She maintains her commanding lead over other ministers – a position she has held for over a year – with a net satisfaction of +82.However, the latest poll numbers suggest that Mr Sunak is the most popular choice to take over at No 10 with the wider public.A survey by research firm Redfield & Wilton found that 43 per cent of adults surveyed said Mr Sunak would make a better prime minister than Mr Johnson. By comparison, only 23 per cent of voters said Ms Truss would make a better PM. More

Boris Johnson claims he thought Downing Street party was ‘work event’Calls for Boris Johnson to resign have intensified after the prime minister admitted at PMQs that he had attended an illegal party in the garden of No 10 during the height of the first lockdown. Although Mr Johnson apologised to the British public for his actions, he tried to lessen the blow by claiming he had mistakenly taken the gathering for a “work event”. Senior Tory Roger Gale had no truck with this excuse, saying the prime minister was a “dead man walking”. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP also called on the prime minister to do “the decent thing” and resign his position. “The prime minister is a man without shame,” Labour leader Keir Starmer told the Commons at PMQs.After his apology, Mr Johnson said he would not be commenting further on the incident until the end of a civil service investigation into the Downing Street parties. This was greeted by boos from the opposition benches. Show latest update

1641998395Rishi Sunak skips PMQs There was one highly notable absence at PMQs earlier…Chancellor Rishi Sunak decided to avoid the PM’s awkward grilling by escaping to Devon for the day. Mr Sunak, the favourite to replace Boris Johnson at No 10, said he was “excited” to be in Ilfracombe with North Devon Tory MP Selaine Saxby, where he visited a purifying pharmaceutical company, which recently created 200 new jobs. Rory Sullivan12 January 2022 14:391641996956No 10 party was ‘thank you’ to Dominic Raab, says Tory MPIn a new development to the No 10 party saga, a Conservative MP has claimed the event was a thank you to deputy prime minister Dominic Raab for stepping in during Boris Johnson’s illness early in the pandemic.Simon Hoare told Sky News: “As I understand it, and this is a third-hand understanding, this was a party organised to say, in the first instance, welcome back prime minister.“He had been in hospital, I think I’ve got the timeline right, and recuperating at Chequers.“It was also a way of saying thank you to Dominic Raab for holding the fort.“So whether the prime minister knew it was taking place or whether everybody just jumped out of the shrubbery and said ‘Surprise’, I don’t know.”The North Dorset MP added that he was unsure if Mr Johnson’s premiership would survive. Rory Sullivan12 January 2022 14:151641996100Johnson ‘a dead man walking,’ says senior Tory MPOur deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports:One Conservative MP has given a snap judgement on Boris Johnson’s confession that he was at the No 10 garden party – concluding he “misled” the Commons with his previous denials.“Politically, the prime minister is a dead man walking,“ Roger Gale said – calling on the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories to ”determine how we proceed”.Sir Roger pointed out that Mr Johnson previously told the Commons that he had been “assured that these allegations were unfounded and that no Covid rules were broken”.“There is no history of bring a bottle work events at Downing Street,” the MP told BBC Radio 4 – ridiculing the prime minister’s defence that he somehow did not know that the party was a party.However, Sir Roger is a well-known Johnson opponent – and other Tories are willing to wait for the verdict of Sue Gray, the senior civil servant leading the ‘partygate’ investigation.Stephen Hammond, a former minister, told the BBC: “It clearly was not a work event and that is the problem.”But Mr Hammond echoed other Conservatives in saying he had “earned the right for us to wait and see what Sue Gray says”.Sam Hancock12 January 2022 14:011641995449Watch: PM apologises for attending lockdown partyUK PM Boris Johnson apologises for attending lockdown partySam Hancock12 January 2022 13:501641995371PM’s apology all about denying personal liability, says barristerInteresting analysis here by human rights barrister Adam Wagner, highlighting the fact Boris Johnson’s apology sought to explicitly deny personal liability. The suggestion is, then, that if Sue Gray concludes rules were broken, the PM will continue to claim he “implicitly” believed the event he attended was work-related, effectively pleading ignorance to avoid having to resign. “Also, PM has probably been advised that the only possible personal liability would be as an accessory to others’ criminal offences (he wasn’t outside of his home so not subject to the restriction on movement regulation). So has to say he ‘implicitly’ didn’t believe it broke rules.”Read Wagner’s full thread here:Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:491641994702Tory MP ‘sends tombstone emoji after PMQs’Boris Johnson appears to be facing just as much trouble internally as he is from competing political forces, following the revelation that he himself attended a potentially lockdown-breaching event. Isabel Hardman, assistant editor of the right-wing Spectator magazine, tweeted to say a Tory MP had sent her an emoji of a tombstone following today’s PMQs. Meanwhile, senior Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, who is a staunch critic of Mr Johnson’s, questioned the validity of the PM’s argument that he attended a BYOB gathering – but thought it was a work event. “Very thin ice indeed,” he said of the PM’s position this afternoon. Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:381641994298‘He needs to go’: More calls for PM to resignMPs are continuing to call for Boris Johnson to resign after he admitted to attending a BYOB “work event” during lockdown.Labour MP Toby Perkins said Boris Johnson has “debased” the office of PM. “We all know the Prime Minister was sacked from two previous jobs for lying,” the Chesterfield representative told colleagues in the Commons.“So, can he explain to the House why he believes that the great office of prime minister can be held to a lower standard than those previous jobs that he was sacked from?”The PM responded to Mr Perkins by suggesting to him “respectfully that he waits until the inquiry [into No 10 parties] is concluded, which I hope will be as soon as possible”.Elsewhere, a Conservative voter and former party member told reporters the PM “is finished”. John Coleman, 47, an English teacher from Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, said he may vote Labour in the next election because of the admission by the PM that he attended a party at Downing Street.“I speak as a conservative voter and former party member… This government needs to fall and it needs to fall now!! Amoral leadership #JohnsonOutNow,” he said on Twitter. Speaking to the PA news agency, he added: “At the moment it is highly unlikely I will vote Conservative next time round. There are too many sycophants and lightweights in Cabinet and an amoral clown at the top. He is finished … he needs to resign.”Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:311641993674Celebrities weigh-in on PM’s No 10 party apologyPiers Morgan has said Boris Johnson is in “big trouble” after apologising for attending an illegal party at No 10 in May 2020.Watching the scenes in parliament as they were televised, the former Good Morning Britain co-host tweeted: “Boris Johnson says he thought the massive p***-up in his No10 back garden was a ‘work event’. More pathetic lies that negate any sincerity with his apology.“Humiliating PMQs for @BorisJohnson – and very telling unsupportive silence from most of his own MPs/ministers as opposition leaders all call for him to resign. He’s in big trouble.”Meanwhile, game show Pointless co-host Richard Osman joked: “I’m going to need a couple of stiff workplace events to get over this.”Our culture reporter Isobel Lewis has the full story:Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:211641993266PM’s apology takes Britons ‘for fools,’ says Rayner Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, has given her verdict following Boris Johnson’s apology in the Commons today. She says the PM “attended a party, and now he is treating [the British public] like fools by suggesting he doesn’t know what a party is”.Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:141641992337Watch: PM ‘completely destroyed’ Allegra Stratton’s career Chris Bryant has said the prime minister “completely destroyed” the career of Allegra Stratton, his former political aide, but was not willing to take proper responsibility for his own actions. The Labour MP told the Commons: “I mean how stupid does the prime minister think the British people are. The worst of it is he’s already managed to completely destroy Allegra Stratton’s career, he’s tarnished the reputation of Lord Geidt, and now he’s making fools of every single MP who cheered him earlier, every single one who goes out on the radio and television to defend this shower of shenanigans.“Would it not be absolutely despicable if, in the search for a scapegoat, some junior member of staff ends up losing their job, but he kept his?”Labour MP says Boris Johnson ‘completely destroyed’ Allegra Stratton’s careerRory Sullivan12 January 2022 12:58 More