UK Politics

Senior Downing Street staff recorded themselves joking about holding a banned Christmas party in No 10, leaked footage shows.In the video from last December obtained by ITV News, Boris Johnson’s then spokesperson Allegra Stratton joked that the party was “was not socially distanced” and suggested passing it off as “a business meeting”.The footage was recorded as a rehearsal for planned televised press briefings, with mock questions posted by the prime minister’s special adviser Ed Oldfield and other staff.Mr Oldfield can be heard to mockingly ask Ms Stratton: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street party on Friday night. Do you recognise those reports?”The spokesperson says: “I went home,” before laughing. The video, dating from 22 December, was recorded just four days after the Christmas party took place – on Friday 18 December. At a key moment in the video another staff member in the room says: “It wasn’t a party, it was cheese and wine.” Another, apparently seriously, chimes in: “Just to be clear, it’s not a party.”At this point Ms Stratton quietly mouths “this is recorded” to the other No 10 staff, and switches to referring to the party as “fictional”.It comes after a week of anger over the reported Downing Street bash, which is said to have taken place despite lockdown rules.Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was “shameful” for the government to “lie and laugh about those lies”.He added: “The prime minister now needs to come clean, and apologise. It cannot be one rule for the Conservatives and another for everyone else.”The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford meanwhile said the video was “damning and leaves the prime minister with a lot to answer for”.He added: “If this is true, then the prime minister’s position is untenable and he must remove himself from office immediately.”And one source who was aware of the party in Downing Street told ITV News: “We all know someone who died from Covid and after seeing this all in the papers I couldn’t not say anything. I’m so angry about it all, the way it is being denied.”Boris Johnson insisted on Tuesday that No 10 staff followed all Covid rules, while chancellor Rishi Sunak denied attending the bash.The 18 December gathering reportedly featured an email invitation and secret Santa gifts.The event, the existence of which emerged nearly a year after it happened, took place at a time when parties were banned under lockdown rules.Asked in the Commons on Tuesday morning to “categorically deny” that “he or any of his officials or special advisers attended any of the Downing Street Christmas parties”, Mr Sunak said: “No, I did not attend any parties.” He made no comment on whether his officials or advisers had attended.Speaking later in the day during a visit to HM Prison Isis in London, Boris Johnson said: “What I can tell you is that all the guidelines were observed, continue to be observed.”Asked if he had investigated the incident personally, Mr Johnson said: “I am satisfied myself that the guidelines were followed at all times.”In a statement the Metropolitan Police said the footage would inform its decision about whether to launch an investigation into the party.“We are aware of footage obtained by ITV News relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at a government building in December 2020,” the force said.“It is our policy not to routinely investigate retrospective breaches of the Covid 19 regulations, however the footage will form part of our considerations.”Meanwhile, the Department for Education admitted on Tuesday to having held a Christmas “gathering” last December, when London was under Tier 2 coronavirus rules.The department said the party took place in its office building, at a time social mixing between households was banned and the number of people in one indoor space was limited to six by law.The admission came after former education secretary Gavin Williamson was reported by The Mirror to have thrown a party and delivered a short speech at the event on 10 December last year.A DfE spokeswoman said: “On December 10 2020 a gathering of colleagues who were already present at the office – and who had worked together throughout the pandemic, as they couldn’t work from home – took place in the DfE office building in London at a time when the city was subject to Tier 2 restrictions.“The gathering was used to thank those staff for their efforts during the pandemic.“Drinks and snacks were brought by those attending and no outside guests or supporting staff were invited or present.“While this was work-related, looking back we accept it would have been better not to have gathered in this way at that particular time.”No 10 had previously claimed that no rules were broken during Matt Hancock’s affair with his aide and Dominic Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle – two events which ended in high-profile resignations.A poll by Savanta ComRes released on Tuesday found two-thirds of the public believe Mr Johnson should apologise for holding the festive events, at least one of which he is reported to have been present at.Three-quarters of people have heard of the story – a relatively high cut-through rate for Westminster affairs.Three in five say they understand that the party could not have taken place at the time without breaking Covid rules, while 72 per cent believe there is one rule for the government and one for the public.This latter belief extends to 2019 Tory voters, 56 per cent of whom agree with the statement.Just one in six voters say No 10 staff deserved a Christmas party.Asked about the leaked video, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “There was no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times.” The Independent has approached Ms Stratton for comment. More

A government department has admitted it held a Christmas “gathering” last December, when London was under Tier 2 coronavirus rules. The Department for Education said the party took place in its office building, at a time social mixing between households was banned and the number of people in one indoor space was limited to six by law. The department’s admission came after former education secretary Gavin Williamson was reported by The Mirror to have thrown a party and delivered a short speech at the event on 10 December last year.A DfE spokeswoman said: “On December 10 2020 a gathering of colleagues who were already present at the office – and who had worked together throughout the pandemic, as they couldn’t work from home – took place in the DfE office building in London at a time when the city was subject to Tier 2 restrictions.“The gathering was used to thank those staff for their efforts during the pandemic.“Drinks and snacks were brought by those attending and no outside guests or supporting staff were invited or present.“While this was work-related, looking back we accept it would have been better not to have gathered in this way at that particular time.”The DfE’s statement came hours after a leaked video was aired by ITV showing Downing Street staff joking about holding a banned Christmas party a few days prior, one they later denied having. In the video from last December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s then spokesperson Allegra Stratton said that the party in Downing Street “was not socially distanced” and added: “It wasn’t a party, it was just cheese and wine.” On Tuesday, Downing Street insisted again that there was no Christmas party and that Covid rules had been followed at all times.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Mr Johnson to “come clean and apologise”.He added that for aides “to lie and to laugh about those lies is shameful”.The footage obtained by ITV News showed Ms Stratton answering a question from fellow special adviser Ed Oldfield at a mock press conference on 22 December last year about a Downing Street Christmas party the previous Friday.Mr Oldfield asked her: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night, do you recognise those reports?”Ms Stratton replied “I went home” before appearing to consider what the correct answer should be.Mr Oldfield then asked: “Would the Prime Minister condone having a Christmas party?”Ms Stratton asked “what’s the answer” and staff in the press room appeared to suggest ideas, with one saying “it wasn’t a party, it was cheese and wine”.“Is cheese and wine all right? It was a business meeting,” Ms Stratton replied, to laughter in the room.Ms Stratton then noted “this is recorded”, adding: “This fictional party was a business meeting … and it was not socially distanced.”London and much of the south-east were put under stricter Tier 4 rules a day after the mock press conference in 9 Downing Street’s media room, which was refurbished at a cost of £2.6 million in preparation for televised Covid updates before the project was abandoned.In Tier 4 areas, residents were only be allowed to celebrate Christmas with members of their own household and support bubbles, and were not allowed to travel to other areas to see family and friends.The Metropolitan Police has confirmed officers are reviewing the leaked video in relation to “alleged breaches” of coronavirus regulations.In response to ITV’s report, a Downing Street spokesman said: “There was no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times.” More

MPs have voted down a bid by parliament’s human rights committee to make it illegal for immigration officers to attempt to “push back” migrant boats in the English Channel in a way which would endanger lives.The pushback proposal, which would involve Border Force boats physically turning back dinghies heading from France to the UK, is one of a set of hardline measures in Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders Bill designed to make it tougher for asylum seekers to make their claims in Britain.Efforts by MPs to tone down the bill failed on Tuesday evening, and it is now set to complete its passage through the House of Commons on Wednesday.An amendment banning the use of maritime enforcement powers “in a manner that would endanger lives at sea”, tabled by the chair of the human rights committee Harriet Harman, was defeated by a margin of 235 votes to 313. Only two Tory MPs – Simon Hoare and Caroline Nokes – broke ranks to back the change.And MPs rejected by 233-318 a second amendment which would have stopped Ms Patel from prosecuting and jailing for up to four years asylum seekers who arrive in the UK by illicit means.Other amendments were not put to a vote, including calls for safe routes for asylum seekers to reach the UK, to create a new “humanitarian visa” allowing them to enter Britain from France for the purpose of having their claims processed and to prevent the government from sending them to camps in foreign countries until a decision is made on whether they can stay.After clearing the Commons on Wednesday, the controversial bill – which also includes new powers to strip individuals of their British nationality without informing them – faces further challenge in the House of Lords.Urging the government to back down on pushback proposals and rule out their use against “unseaworthy vessels such as dinghies”, Ms Harman said Ms Patel should not “give new powers to the Border Force which then cost lives at sea”.She said that making it clear in the bill that immigration officers will not be allowed to put lives at risk would ensure that operations are safe and that British authorities do not breach international law.Meanwhile, Conservative former minister David Davis said that plans to “offshore” asylum claimants in other countries would be “eye-waveringly expensive” – increasing the annual bill from around £1.4bn to as much as £35bn.A similar scheme in Australia has been “seriously problematic on a humanitarian level”, he said, citing reports of “gut-wrenching sexual, physical and mental abuse that has pushed vulnerable children towards suicide”.In one case, he said “a 14-year-old girl held offshore for five years doused herself in petrol and tried to set herself alight”, adding “if this where to happen on our watch just imagine how the public would respond to harm, serious harm to a child nominally in our care”.Mr Davis was among 15 Conservative MPs who rebelled to support a proposal to scrap visa fees for foreign-born UK military veterans who want to remain in the country.Former defence minister Johnny Mercer said the change was backed by the Duke of Sussex. Prince Harry had said in a private conversation on Monday that it would be “morally right” to waive the charge for military veterans, the former army officer told the Commons.“He has contributed hugely to the veterans debate and I wanted his view,” said Mr Mercer.“He said to me it’s not only morally right but would mean so much to those who have given so much… They’re our brothers and sisters, they’ve served with us over many, many years.”However, the rebellion was not enough to force the change through, as Mr Mercer’s amendment was defeated by 251-296. More

The government has apologised to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire after it acknowledged “past failures” in oversight of the system regulating safety within the construction industry.A lawyer for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said there had been “mistakes, errors and omissions” and the government was “deeply sorry”.Jason Beer QC, representing the department, said: “The department is deeply sorry for its past failures in relation to the oversight of the system that regulated safety in the construction and refurbishment of high-rise buildings.“It also deeply regrets past failures in relation to the superintendence of the building control bodies, which themselves had a key role in ensuring the safe construction and refurbishment of such buildings.“It apologises to the bereaved residents and survivors of the fire for such failures.”He added that the government, as well as the public and residents of the tower, had trusted that “those constructing and approving high-rise blocks and supplying the products used in them were following the law and doing the right thing”.This trust was “both misplaced and abused”, he said, adding: “The department greatly regrets that it took the Grenfell Tower tragedy to lay bare this misplaced and abused trust.”Phase two of the probe is examining how the block of flats in west London came to be coated in flammable materials that contributed to the spread of flames, which shot up the tower in June 2017, killing 72 people.Mr Beer said the department “should have done more to take on board the learnings and recommendations triggered by other fires” as well as addressing “in a timelier manner” correspondence from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fire Safety which had raised issues.“Individually, these errors and missed opportunities from the department and across industry may not have caused the fire at Grenfell Tower, but cumulatively they created an environment in which such a tragedy was possible,” he said.“Had there been a functional enforcement system with efficient assurance built in, non-compliance to the extent that gave rise to the Grenfell Tower tragedy may not have been possible.”Matthew Butt QC, for the National House Building Council (NHBC), said it was “crucial” that the construction industry learns from the Grenfell fire.NHBC was not involved in the refurbishment of the tower but the body acknowledged it should have acted more swiftly “and been more assertive” with manufacturers, and accepted that some industry assessments had not been “as rigorous as they should have been”, he told the hearing.The inquiry was adjourned until Wednesday at 10am. Additional reporting by PA More

Nicola Sturgeon has asked people across Scotland to work from home until the middle of January in bid to stem the “potentially rapid rise” of the Covid omicron variant.Going further than Boris Johnson – who has been reluctant to bring back remote working guidance in England – the first minister asked Scotland’s employers to make sure staff that can work from home do so until mid-January 2022.“If you had staff working from home at the start of the pandemic, please now do so again,” said Sturgeon on Tuesday. “We’re asking you do this from now until the middle of January when we will review this advice.”The SNP leader added: “I know how difficult this is, but I cannot stress enough how much difference we think this could make in helping step transmission and avoiding the need for even more onerous measures.”In a direct plea to workers, Ms Sturgeon said: “If you were working at home at the start of the pandemic, please do so again for the next few weeks. None of this is what any of us want … but it is the best way of slowing the spread of the virus.”Scotland’s first minister said current restrictions – including travel curbs and mandatory wearing masks in indoor places – would stay in place.Cases of the omicron variant in Scotland have increased by 28 to a total of 99, Ms Sturgeon said, with around four per cent of Covid cases north of the border likely to be the new omicron variant.She also told the Scottish parliament that said cases of the variant appeared to be doubling every two to three days north of the border.The first minister said Scotland should expect “a potentially rapid rise [of omicron] in the days ahead”, and announced that she would now review measures on a daily rather than a weekly basis.It comes as some of the UK’s top scientific advisers have recommended that Mr Johnson’s government should consider bringing back work from home guidance in England to combat the spread of omicron.Minutes from the latest Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) meeting – published on Friday – show that the experts believe remote working is a “highly relevant” way to reduce transmission of the new variant.And Prof Adam Finn, a member of the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has said “the more people can work from home now the better”.Mr Johnson has told ministers that the Omicron variant of coronavirus appears to be “more transmissible” than Delta when he updated his Cabinet on the latest situation on Tuesday morning.But Downing Street has been reluctant to bring in its so-called plan B – which includes advice to return to remote working and the use of vaccine certification in venues – over the Christmas period.Mr Johnson’s spokesman said so-called plan B measures could be deployed in England if needed. “We are able to move relatively quickly,” he said.Ms Sturgeon said further measures such as an extension to vaccine passports could not be ruled out north of the border. Contact tracing will be enhanced in Scotland, with household contacts of close contacts of positive cases told to test and isolate.She also urged Scots to do regular lateral flow testing – and revealed she takes a test every day before work.“I am not excluding myself from this,” she told MSPs. “I am currently doing a test every morning before coming to work and I will do a test on any occasion I mix with others over the festive period. I will ask anyone visiting my home over Christmas to do likewise.”The UK Health Security Agency said a further 101 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant have been reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases across the UK to 437. More

Boris Johnson has denied he intervened in this summer’s Kabul airlift to tell officials to prioritise the evacuation of former soldier Pen Farthing and his rescue animals as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August.The denial came after whistle-blower Raphael Marshall told MPs that the Foreign Office received “an instruction from the prime minister” to use “considerable capacity” to help the ex-Royal Marine bring out 170 cats and dog on a chartered plane.And a campaigner for Mr Farthing’s Nowzad charity said he had no doubt that Mr Johnson intervened personally to overrule defence secretary Ben Wallace after being given a “hard time” by his animal-loving wife Carrie.“Yes we lobbied, and we lobbied very successfully. I forced the prime minister’s arm … I’ve no doubt Carrie Johnson gave him a hard time,” Dominic Dyer told BBC News.Mr Johnson today dismissed the claims as “complete nonsense”, hailing the evacuation effort as “one of the outstanding military achievements of the last 50 years or more”.The PM admitted that “sometimes decisions took hours longer than we wanted” during the evacuation from Kabul. But he said officials did an “absolutely outstanding job” processing “very difficult, very complex claims incredibly quickly”.Mr Marshall, who worked on the evacuation operation as a desk officer in the Foreign Office, said that the order came “at the direct expense” of thousands of Afghans left behind when the hurried evacuation came to an end.In a 40-page dossier of evidence to the Commons Foreign Affair Committee, he claimed that helplines were understaffed, emails from desperate Afghans went unread and junior officials with no local knowledge worked on specialist cases.He told the committee: “There was no reason to believe the Taliban would target animal rights charities. There was therefore no justification for concluding Nowzad’s staff were at significant risk.“By contrast many others would inevitably be left behind who were at risk of murder. Similarly the protection of domestic animals was not a UK war aim in Afghanistan.”And Mr Dyer told the BBC: “The prime minister did intervene – he intervened directly with the home secretary to get the people on the priority list to evacuate. They weren’t at the top of that list, but we made it very clear they were at severe risk, and he accepted that argument.“He was right to intervene … Without the intervention by the prime minister, Mr Wallace would have continued to block the operation.”But Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson today denied that either the prime minister, his animal-loving wife or any member of 10 Downing Street staff intervened to tell military or civilian staff in response to Farthing’s appeals for help.“We’ve always prioritised people over animals,” said the PM’s spokesperson.“The prime minister’s focus was on saving and evacuating as many people as possible. That was the instruction that he gave to the whole of government and that’s why we evacuated 15,000 individuals and a further 2,000 subsequently.“UK government staff worked tirelessly to evacuate more than 15,000 people from Afghanistan within a fortnight. It was the biggest mission of its kind in generations and the second largest evacuation carried out by any country. We are still working to help others to leave.Mr Farthing was given clearance by UK authorities to fly a privately chartered plane from Kabul International Airport, but this did not distract from the evacuation operation, said the spokesperson. Mr Johnson was not involved in the decision to provide clearance, he said.“We provided clearance for the flight and they were assisted through the airport, but nothing beyond that,” he said. “I would not characterise granting clearances to distracting from the ability of us to evacuate individuals.Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, who was foreign secretary at the time of the Operation Pitting evacuation, today dismissed Mr Marshall’s revelations about the chaotic Afghan evacuation as coming from a “junior desk officer” and insisted it was a success. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Raab should have quit the government at the time of the Afghanistan crisis.He told the BBC that Mr Marshall’s “devastating” testimony “lays bare the shambolic incompetence of the government”.Thousands of Afghans had been “let down and left to their fate” as a result, he said.“It is shocking that we are all now learning that emails and letters that we sent in to the Foreign Office – including from my office – were opened but haven’t been actioned.“It’s a total failure of political leadership with an ex-foreign secretary who was busy on the beach instead of doing his job.”Asked whether Mr Raab should be in office, Sir Keir said: “I think Dominic Raab should have resigned at the time, that would have been the decent, honourable thing to do.”The PM’s spokesperson confirmed that the promised resettlement scheme to bring 20,000 vulnerable Afghans to the UK has not yet begun operations. More

Government plans to strip the Electoral Commission of prosecution powers risk allowing lawbreakers to escape punishment, the head of the watchdog has warned.The police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lack “the expertise and resources” to take on the role, John Pullinger suggested – a shift seen by many as part of an attempt to neuter the organisation.The controversial Elections Bill will also give the Cabinet Office the power to set the remit of the Commission and decide which organisations and activities are permitted in election campaigns.The shake-up comes after the watchdog angered No 10 by investigating the lavish refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat, a report yet to be published.The Commission has been threatened with curbs ever since it embarrassed senior Tory figures by fining Vote Leave for busting spending limits for the Brexit referendum.Giving evidence to MPs, Mr Pullinger criticised the refusal to beef up the level of fines it can impose for wrongdoing from just £20,000 to a recommended £500,000.And, on the plan to remove the power of criminal investigation and prosecution, the Commission chair asked: “The key to me is, well, who is going to have it?He asked, of the police and CPS: “Are they ready to have it? Do they have the expertise, the resources to make sure that the laws that parliament has passed will be properly taken forward?”Mr Pullinger added: “Is the electoral system set up to ensure that the offences that parliament has legislated really will be prosecuted where necessary?”The chair also attacked handing ministers the power to set his agenda, warning: “It’s inconsistent with an independent regulator and that is concerning.”It would make it “more difficult to convince the public” that the Commission is truly independent, if it is required to take into account “the views of one party”.One Conservative member of the Commons public administration committee, Jackie Doyle-Price, suggested Mr Pullinger was being “partisan” and should give ministers the “benefit of the doubt”.But the chair insisted there are no “serious issues affecting the integrity of elections” and that the body was keen to work closely with government.The Cabinet Office insists the changes are a “necessary and a proportionate approach to reforming the Electoral Commission while respecting its independence”.But critics have warned ministers will, at a stroke, be able to ban trade unions and certain charities from taking part in elections by campaigning or donating.On Tuesday, Mr Pullinger said, of the Downing Street flat probe: “It is an investigation into the Conservative Party.“Part of the process of the investigation is to give the party investigated the chance to comment on our findings and have input, so we’re in that process.“Now, of course, once we’ve concluded it, we will publish our findings and hopefully that will be as soon as possible, but I can’t really comment beyond that now.” More

Boris Johnson has claimed No.10 staff followed all the rules at an alleged lockdown Christmas party last year.It comes as chancellor Rishi Sunak denied attending the bash, which reportedly featured an email invitation and a game of Secret Santa.Downing Street yesterday denied a party had taken place at all – going further than the prime minister himself appeared prepared to in person.The event, the existence of which emerged nearly a year after it happened, took place at a time when parties were banned under lockdown rules. Asked in the Commons on Tuesday morning to “categorically deny” that “he or any of his officials or spads (special advisers) attended any of the Downing Street Christmas parties”, Mr Sunak said:”No, I did not attend any parties.” He made no comment on whether his officials or advisors had attended.One Labour MP could be heard saying: “So there were parties.”Speaking to reporters during a visit to HMP Isis in London, Boris Johnson said: “What I can tell you is that all the guidelines were observed, continue to be observed.”Asked if he investigated personally, Mr Johnson said: “I am satisfied myself that the guidelines were followed at all times.”The oscillating claims from the top of government that the party both did not happen and was completely within the rules is likely to raise eyebrows.No.10 had previously claimed that no rules were broken during Matt Hancock’s affair with his aide and Dominic Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle – two events which ended in high-profile resignations. Police minister Kit Malthouse has said he would expect the police to investigate any breach the rules, after the Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said the police would deal with rule-breaking without fear or favour. Former advisor Dominic Cummings meanwhile claimed that journalists were in attendance at the bash – although he did not substantiate his claim or say to who he was referring. Mr Cummings had left government by the time of the alleged gatherings.The claims refer to two gatherings on November 27 or December 18 last year – one a supposed Christmas bash and another a leaving do for a college moving to work elsewhere. The Daily Mirror newspaper, which first broke the story, has also cited sources claiming there were a number of social gatherings at No.10 over the winter period. More