Downing St parties night before Prince Philip's Funeral

[buddhasbelly]

The telegraph are reporting more parties... The night before Prince Philip's funeral.

• party spilled out into garden

-someone broke Wilf's swing in tthe garden -someone sent with a suitcase to buy booze from the co-op

When the telegraph of all papers are reporting it, he's surely done for now?

Apologies if another thread on this, couldn't see one

I think it does make a difference whether they were breaking the law in a way that increased risk or in a technical way which didn't increase the risk and is only a big deal because they're the head of government.

At the most basic level, the longer you are in the same room with someone, the more likely you are to pass on a virus. There is no way that partying together did not increase risk.

I think the drip drip drip of these leaks suggests there is more information to come and that information will get worse and worse

Cummings will not be satisfied until he has wreaked revenge on all those he believes responsible for booting him out of No.10.

@picklemewalnuts

If it's the same people who are there anyway because of work does it matter?

Disclaimer- I haven't been reading the details, just aware of the headlines. I know nothing of the numbers, or the type of parties. But if the same people are in the same place, but with a mince pie and a glass of wine, isn't it the same risk if they are working or partying?

Yes, because it was still against the rules.

Bear in mind, too, that no. 10 is a very big office. Given Slack's position, the likelihood is that there were people there from a number of different departments who weren't routinely mixing during the day.

Reading the op sounds like a public school high jinks or perhaps a university party ... this
Is crazy when you think that
These
Are
The
People
Leading
Us
Through
A
Pandemic

And as for the timing - the poor Queen.

@Schulte

Why does that even matter? They were blatantly breaking the rules either way.

I didn't say it mattered.

It is just something that interests me.

Does anyone know who attended these leaving parties?

Does anyone know who attended these leaving parties?

No, I don’t think full lists of people are available for any of the parties being investigated. Just a few specific people at each one are known about eg Boris at the garden one, the two people who were leaving etc.

Thanks @SickAndTiredAgain

I was vaguely interested in whether there were MPs and spads as well as staffers, and whether anyone who wasn't working that day came in specially.

The Telegraph have a report of a party, plus photo, that Starmer attended during lockdown.

Whether Boris was there or not is almost irrelevant!!
Basically this government has been led by a liar who has absolutely no control over his staff….it’s bloody scary and disgraceful!>
He will be gone by lunchtime.
The Covid link yesterday was just another lie to buy him another 24 hrs!

What I'm struggling to understand is why the Telegraph is publishing this story? I thought they were the paper that really supports this government.

Not even the Telegraph can be seen to be supporting the unsupportable.

The Telegraph have looked at the polls, heard the public's disgust and have decided Boris is a liability for theTory party so want him gone.

I’m convinced there is a bit reveal still to come. This drip dripping of stories has to be going somewhere. Cummings isn’t someone I would want as an enemy or a friend.

Johnson has to go, it was madness letting him be in a position to become PM in the first place. All this does is undermine any credibility in the lockdown rules. These civil servants are the people who know the situation best after all. It's lucky data such as excess deaths is now showing the UK came through the pandemic surpringly well especially considering our status as major international hub. But if top civil servants felt safe enough to party despite the messages being given to the public, does it give the impression we just lost 2 years for nothing? If so, could there ever be another lockdown?

(Prince Philip's death is irrelevant imo, the idea of national mourning is an anachronistic Victorian forelock-tugging holdover)

What I'm struggling to understand is why the Telegraph is publishing this story? I thought they were the paper that really supports this government

They support a Conservative government, which doesn't always include supporting whoever is the PM. I think they smell blood.

@RoseAndRose

Outdoors atherings were allowed at that point, though, weren't they?

I mean it's appalling taste - there was still official morning and government staff should just know that partying Downing Street during mourning is just plain Wrong (which I think does reflect standards)

But was it also a covid breach?

No more than 6 in outdoor gatherings in public places. But the garden of 10 Downing Street is not a public place.

@Violetparis

The Telegraph have looked at the polls, heard the public's disgust and have decided Boris is a liability for theTory party so want him gone.

I think we are beginning to discover what Cummings had got in all those cardboard boxes we saw him removing from Downing Street.

My DC was not allowed to have a leaving party, no leaving assembly, no event to mark the occasion of finishing primary school. Literally millions of examples of us all giving up marking special occasions, being with friends and loved ones.

Boris & friends in No 10 do what they want while we were told to tow the line. It is a national disgrace.

And now we know why BJ was soooo reluctant to sack Cummings. DC has so much dirt to dish out now!

I hope they all get the same fines us mere mortals would have had to pay all who attended should be sacked as well

No more than 6 in outdoor gatherings in public places. But the garden of 10 Downing Street is not a public place

Weren’t gardens included in outdoor spaces? Obviously the parties were still in breach of the rules because of the numbers and number of households involved.

@ParkheadParadise

Looooooollll! 😂😂

@Alltheprettyseahorses

Johnson has to go, it was madness letting him be in a position to become PM in the first place. All this does is undermine any credibility in the lockdown rules. These civil servants are the people who know the situation best after all. It's lucky data such as excess deaths is now showing the UK came through the pandemic surpringly well especially considering our status as major international hub. But if top civil servants felt safe enough to party despite the messages being given to the public, does it give the impression we just lost 2 years for nothing? If so, could there ever be another lockdown?

(Prince Philip's death is irrelevant imo, the idea of national mourning is an anachronistic Victorian forelock-tugging holdover)

The point about the funeral is that it was a poignant contrast of someone in a position of relative authority following the rules at a time when she probably would have been forgiven for not doing so, and the buffoons at No 10 who are clearly above the rules. Tiny grieving solitary Queen v careless partying rule breaking stories. It matters.

*Tories! Although stories were definitely involved.

“(Prince Philip's death is irrelevant imo, the idea of national mourning is an anachronistic Victorian forelock-tugging holdover)”

Yeah but for one thing it was wall to wall sad songs on the radio for three days- the public was MADE to participate. And the Queen was sat on her own at the funeral. The optics aren’t great.

Just to point out that not all senior civil servants were getting up to these sorts of shenanigans. A relative of mine at a fairly senior level (though fortunately not attached to Downing Street) spent that first lockdown period like lots of other people: working from home on the dining table, dodgy internet connections, home-schooling 4 kids, partner who was a frontline NHS nurse and went down with Covid early on because there was eff-all PPE. There were no cheese'n'wine parties going on in his department/ministry.