‘A tiny hand sanitiser fenced in by bottles of booze’: David Baddiel jokes about new Boris Johnson party picture

‘Are the other people blurred to help give the impression of how much he had drunk?’ quipped comedian

Comedian David Baddiel has reacted to new pictures that appear to show Boris Johnson drinking at a Downing Street party held during a coronavirus lockdown.

The four pictures, obtained by ITV News, appear to show the prime minister raising a glass at a leaving party for his then director of communications Lee Cain on 13 November 2020.

A number of people can be seen standing together around a table of party food and booze, despite – at the time – the rest of the country being banned from socialising during the height of the pandemic.

Sharing the story on Twitter, Baddiel joked: “Are the other people blurred to help give the impression of how much he had drunk?”

Posting a zoomed-in image of the table on Twitter, he added: “I like this almost iconic image – perhaps in years to come this will be the image that defines this Government – of a tiny hand sanitiser fenced in by multiple bottles of booze.”

Earlier, Dominic Cummings – Johnson’s former senior adviser – had claimed that photos would emerge within the next 24 to 48 hours that would show the PM “obviously lied” to police and the House of Commons about Downing Street parties.

(Twitter)

(Twitter)

Cummings predicted pictures would be released by warring factions within No 10, before the official partygate report by senior civil servant Sue Gray is finally published this week.

After the pictures were released, deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said Johnson “demeaned his office” and that “there’s no doubt now [that] he lied.”