Saturday, December 11, 2021
Partying the night away
Unsurprisingly, Ten Downing Street has cancelled this year's staff Christmas party. Unfortunately for them, nobody cares. We are all still talking about last year's event. It must have been quite a do, as nobody who attended it seems to remember being there, but the prevailing wisdom is that it did happen, in defiance of the prevailing regulations, and that the public is pretty pissed about it all.
Of course the revelations continue to drip out in the most damaging way, with the latest being in Mirror, who say that Boris Johnson's top spin doctor made a thank you speech and handed out spoof awards to Downing Street staff at the aforementioned bash.
This is the same man who is responsible for fronting up all the denials and misdirections designed to throw the media off the scent, and yet not once did he say that he was there:
Sources have told ITV News that Jack Doyle, the Prime Minister's top communications adviser, held a joke awards ceremony for staff at the festive bash, which took place at the height of the second wave of Covid and is now the subject of a Cabinet Office probe.
It is thought that more than 50 people were at the party on December 18. Mr Doyle was deputy director of communications at the time.
The event was said to have been planned three weeks in advance with invitations sent to officials and political advisers on WhatsApp, according to The Times.
The Prime Minister had claimed he had "assurances" the event had followed Covid guidance but after leaked footage of senior staff laughing and joking about "cheese and wine" and "definitely" no social distancing at the event, he ordered a Cabinet Office investigation.
Downing Street's internal investigation is beginning to look more and more like a sham. The Cabinet Secretary has only just published the terms of reference but more details are emerging in the media than his Office. Isn't it about time Boris Johnson came clean and told us the whole story?
Of course the revelations continue to drip out in the most damaging way, with the latest being in Mirror, who say that Boris Johnson's top spin doctor made a thank you speech and handed out spoof awards to Downing Street staff at the aforementioned bash.
This is the same man who is responsible for fronting up all the denials and misdirections designed to throw the media off the scent, and yet not once did he say that he was there:
Sources have told ITV News that Jack Doyle, the Prime Minister's top communications adviser, held a joke awards ceremony for staff at the festive bash, which took place at the height of the second wave of Covid and is now the subject of a Cabinet Office probe.
It is thought that more than 50 people were at the party on December 18. Mr Doyle was deputy director of communications at the time.
The event was said to have been planned three weeks in advance with invitations sent to officials and political advisers on WhatsApp, according to The Times.
The Prime Minister had claimed he had "assurances" the event had followed Covid guidance but after leaked footage of senior staff laughing and joking about "cheese and wine" and "definitely" no social distancing at the event, he ordered a Cabinet Office investigation.
Downing Street's internal investigation is beginning to look more and more like a sham. The Cabinet Secretary has only just published the terms of reference but more details are emerging in the media than his Office. Isn't it about time Boris Johnson came clean and told us the whole story?
