‘Prime Minister is a threat to public safety’: What Cambridgeshire MPs say over Downing Street party controversy
The Prime Minister now “poses a very real threat to public safety” according to the MP for Cambridge, responding to the controversy over an alleged party at Downing Street during lockdown.
Labour MP Daniel Zeichner said Boris Johnson had now lost all “moral authority” and said parts of the government are “rotten to the core”.
Meanwhile, South Cambridgeshire’s Conservative MP Anthony Browne said he was pleased an investigation into the matter had been ordered.
And he said he was “deeply frustrated” after video footage from December 2020 emerged of Downing Street’s former press secretary Allegra Stratton laughing and joking with fellow aides as she appeared to rehearse answers to questions over a lockdown-busting Christmas party.
Ms Stratton apologised today and resigned as a government adviser.
The Prime Minister - who was not at the gathering last December - apologised in the House of Commons and said he understood the anger of the public, who made sacrifices by not seeing their loved ones at Christmas during the lockdown restrictions last year.
Meanwhile, the Met police confirmed it was not intending to investigate the matter.
Mr Zeichner told the Cambridge Independent: “As I told a Parliamentary committee this afternoon, parts of this government are rotten to the core.
“Watching the Prime Minister in the Chamber earlier it was clear that many Conservative MPs are aghast – they always knew what he was like, but were prepared to back him despite that.
“Now he poses a very real threat to public safety because all moral authority is gone.
“He and No 10 must co-operate fully with the police by handing over everything they have about parties in Downing Street.”
And Mr Browne said: “I was deeply frustrated by the video that emerged yesterday. People in government must obey the law and show leadership, and I’m glad to hear an investigation has been ordered to establish the facts in this matter.
“The truth is that we do not know enough about what happened yet. I have no personal knowledge of any such parties, and on the night in question was engaged in a constituency meeting held online with local parish councils.
“I will await the results of any investigations and expect the Prime Minister to cooperate fully with all inquiries into the conduct of No 10 staff. My focus continues to be on working for the residents of South Cambridgeshire, ensuring better public transport, sustainable growth and improving their quality of life.”
Lucy Frazer, the Conservative MP for South East Cambridgeshire, has yet to respond after being approached for comment on the matter.
On Wednesday evening, Scotland Yard said officers would not “commence an investigation at this time” into the gathering, in line with its “policy not to investigate retrospective breaches” of coronavirus rules, despite reviewing the allegations and the leaked footage showing senior No 10 staff joking about a party.
But the Metropolitan Police was open to considering any further evidence unearthed in an internal investigation the Prime Minister tasked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case with undertaking.
In a statement, the Met acknowledged it had received “a significant amount of correspondence” relating to the alleged breaches in the run up to Christmas last year but said they do not “provide evidence of a breach” of Covid rules.
“The Met has had discussions with the Cabinet Office in relation to the investigation by the Cabinet Secretary. If any evidence is found as a result of that investigation, it will be passed to the Met for further consideration.”
Mr Johnson has repeatedly insisted that rules were followed in Downing Street since the claims first emerged about the December 18 party.
However, at Prime Minister’s Questions, he told the Commons he based that position on assurances from junior staff as he offered an apology.
He asked Mr Case “to establish all the facts and to report back as soon as possible – and it goes without saying that if those rules were broken then there will be disciplinary action for all those involved”.
Mr Johnson said: “I understand and share the anger up and down the country at seeing No 10 staff seeming to make light of lockdown measures, and I can understand how infuriating it must be to think that people who have been setting the rules have not been following the rules because I was also furious to see that clip.
“I apologise unreservedly for the offence that it has caused up and down the country, and I apologise for the impression that it gives.
“But I repeat that I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken, and that is what I have been repeatedly assured.”
At a hastily-arranged Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson was forced to deny allegations, including from senior Conservative William Wragg, that his announcement of further coronavirus restrictions was a “diversionary tactic” from the scandal.
The Prime Minister also appeared to concede that the Cabinet Secretary would be able to go further than just reviewing the events of December 18 and “look at other things”, with other alleged gatherings in Downing Street over the festive period last year.
Mr Johnson praised Ms Stratton as a “fine colleague” as he accepted her resignation.
“Allegra Stratton has resigned and I wanted to pay tribute to her because she has been, in spite of what everybody has seen, and again, I make no excuses for the frivolity with which the subject was handled in that rehearsal that people saw in that clip,” the Prime Minister said.
In a tearful statement outside her home, Ms Stratton apologised for her appearance in footage recorded just days after the alleged party.
She had been taking part in a mock press conference in preparation for the planned White House-style televised briefings she would front – a project which was ultimately abandoned.
In the footage obtained by ITV News, Ms Stratton and adviser Ed Oldfield, along with other aides, were filmed joking about a “fictional” Downing Street party.
A laughing Ms Stratton said: “This fictional party was a business meeting … and it was not socially distanced.”
In her statement on Wednesday, she told reporters: “My remarks seemed to make light of the rules, rules that people were doing everything to obey.
“That was never my intention. I will regret those remarks for the rest of my days and I offer my profound apologies to all of you at home for them.”
Ms Stratton, who had been working as Mr Johnson’s spokeswoman for the COP26 climate summit, said she understood people’s “anger and frustration”.
“To all of you who lost loved ones, who endured intolerable loneliness and who struggled with your businesses, I am truly sorry and this afternoon I am offering my resignation to the Prime Minister.”
The Prime Minister’s decision to launch an investigation followed a week of official denials that the party took place when London was under Tier 3 restrictions – despite reports staff drank alcohol and exchanged Secret Santa gifts.
Downing Street’s official line has now shifted with the announcement of the Case inquiry, with the Prime Minister’s press secretary declining to repeat the statement that “there was no party”.
She said “it wouldn’t be right to comment further” while Mr Case was investigating.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Prime Minister’s apology “raises more questions than answers” as he had been “caught red-handed”.
“Millions of people now think the Prime Minister was taking them for fools, that they were lied to. They are right aren’t they?” he added.
In response to questioning from Sir Keir, the Prime Minister agreed that any evidence uncovered by the Cabinet Secretary about parties in Downing Street would be handed over to police.
The emergence of the footage of Ms Stratton’s mock press conference fuelled anger on the Tory benches about Mr Johnson’s Number 10 operation.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said Mr Johnson should quit if he was found to have misled Parliament.
He told Sky News: “If he knew there was a party, if he knew it took place, then he cannot come to the House of Commons and say there was no party.”
Additional reporting: PA
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