Inside Politics: PM under extreme pressure as leaked clip shows aides joking about Christmas party

Ministers fail to defend government on morning broadcast round following publication of footage, which was recorded days after party No 10 still insists never took place during Covid lockdown last year

(PA)

Boris Johnson and his spinners are under extreme pressure for answers this morning after a leaked clip showed senior aides laughing and joking about a Christmas party during a mock press conference. The footage, recorded on 22 December last year – just days after reports say a gathering of “dozens” of staffers took place in No 10 when lockdown restrictions were in place – appears to contradict repeated denials by Downing Street that “there was no Christmas party” and that “Covid rules have been followed at all times” – lines trotted out again last night after the film emerged but ones that seem unlikely to hold as today progresses. Aware that the Christmas party story has had significant cut through with the public, Labour leader Keir Starmer is going for Johnson’s jugular, accusing the prime minister of telling “lies” over the affair, demanding that he “comes clean” and apologises. Prime Minister’s Questions are not to be missed.

Inside the bubble

Commons sits from 11.30am with Northern Ireland questions followed by what should be a very interesting PMQ’s at midday.

Coming up:

– Tory MP and education committee chairman Robert Halfon on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.30am

–Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy on Times Radio at 8.35am

Daily Briefing

ONE RULE FOR THEM: In the video, Johnson’s then spokeswoman 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 posed by the prime minister’s special adviser Ed Oldfield and other staff. Oldfield can be heard to mockingly ask Stratton: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street party on Friday night. Do you recognise those reports?” “I went home,” Stratton replies, laughing. Reports of the Christmas party have once again left Johnson open to accusations that it is one rule for him and his ministers and another for everyone else, a view said to be held now by some the PM’s own MPs. A serving minister described the clip to the BBC as appalling while a senior backbencher said the film could be catastrophic for the government. The story makes the front of several news outlets this morning, including the Daily Mail, which describes it as “a sick joke”. In an unusual turn of events, no government minister was made available to broadcasters this morning to defend Downing Street’s record, despite invitations.

HOW MANY MORE?: Just how many more Christmas parties were held across government last year? That’s the question many Westminster watchers might be asking after the Department for Education admitted it held a shindig last December, when London was under Tier 2 coronavirus rules and Gavin Williamson was in charge. DfE said the party took place in its office building, at a time when social mixing between households was banned and the number of people in one indoor space was limited to six by law. A DfE spokesperson 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.”

GRIM WARNING: Another day, another grim Covid warning. Experts are concerned that the UK could start to record 90,000 infections per day by Christmas as growing evidence shows omicron is likely more transmissible than delta. Scientific government officials say the daily number of positive cases is on course to surpass the highest peak of the pandemic within a matter of weeks, with both the omicron and delta variants circulating alongside one another to fuel a swift wave of infections. Covid hospitalisations are now also beginning to increase. Meanwhile, the omicron coronavirus variant may be able to better evade the protection offered by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine than the initial Covid virus type – but only partially, a small study has suggested. Pandemic updates throughout the day here.

PEN PALS: One of the PM’s parliamentary aides wrote to the founder of an Afghan animal charity saying all 68 of his staff would be airlifted out of Kabul by the RAF while his dogs and cats would be rescued by a chartered plane. The letter to former royal marine Paul “Pen” Farthing, who ran the Nowzad shelter, was produced by MP Chris Bryant at the end of a session of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, during which senior members of the Foreign Office repeatedly said there “was no prioritisation of animals” in the Afghan evacuation and no political interference over the action taken involving the charity. It also came after the prime minister dismissed claims made by a Foreign Office whistleblower that he had intervened to help the charity as “complete nonsense”. Elsewhere, MPs have lambasted the “lack of leadership” during the Afghanistan evacuation as the Foreign Office’s top civil servant admitted he regretted continuing with his holiday while Kabul fell. Sir Philip Barton, permanent-under secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), told a Commons committee he wished that he had “come back from my leave earlier”.

BREXIT DELAYS: Delays to cross-Channel trade are still worsening almost a year after Brexit checks came in, says a study also highlighting rising costs and key staff shunning the UK. No less than 79 per cent of firms trading with France reported hold-ups in the three months to September – crucially, 6 per cent more than in the second quarter of the year. The delays are also lengthening, with 42 per cent of businesses taking an additional two to three weeks to import goods compared to 28 per cent in the April-June period. Some 82 per cent of firms say logistic costs have risen for imports and 43 per cent for exports, the survey by the French Chamber of Great Britain found. And 30 per cent cut staff “directly as a result of Brexit” – some reporting problems in “attracting European talent to the UK”, following the divorce from the EU.

On the record

“What I can tell you is that all the guidelines were observed, continue to be observed. I am satisfied myself that the guidelines were followed at all times.”

PM on reports of No 10 Covid lockdown party before ITV clip surfaced.

From the Twitterati

“Oh my.”

i columnist Ian Dunt after clip aired.

Essential reading

• Tom Peck, The Independent: Boris Johnson’s two most shameful lies just blew up in a spectacular way
• Marie Le Conte, The Independent: The so-called ‘war on drugs’ at Westminster is a massive distraction
• Gabriel Scully, The Guardian: It’s not too late for the British government to develop an effective Covid strategy
• Martin Fletcher, The New Statesman: Tens of thousands of Afghans have been betrayed by our callous, brazen and shamelessly incompetent government

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