Dominic Cummings gatecrashes Downing Street Christmas party row

Boris Johnson’s one-time right-hand man Dominic Cummings has said it would be “very unwise for No. 10 to lie” about an alleged Christmas party that took place in Downing Street while the UK was in the grip of a national lockdown last December.

The former Downing Street aide accused Johnson of having “set the course of lying on Covid in spring when he decided to start rewriting history”. His comments came in a social media post published on Twitter after a Downing Street spokesperson denied any party took place at No. 10 during the run-up to Christmas last year.

Cummings alleged that some political journalists were “also at parties in [the] No10 flat”, so were “trying to bury” the story about supposed Downing Street revelry.

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Last week, the Daily Mirror alleged that two events took place at No. 10 late last year and that the prime minister gave a speech at a “packed leaving do” for top aide Cleo Watson while the country was enduring a second national lockdown.

The second event took place just days before Christmas, while London was under Tier 3 restrictions, where officials “knocked back glasses of wine during a Christmas quiz and a Secret Santa”, said the paper. Attendees were said to have been crammed “cheek by jowl” into a medium-sized room at Downing Street for both events, with at least “40 or 50” people in attendance.

According to further reports by The Times, the staff party was organised via a WhatsApp group, with staff asked to bring Secret Santa presents and wear Christmas jumpers. One source told the paper that the party had been organised “at least a week in advance via WhatsApp with a follow-up email” and added there was a “proper spread” of food and alcohol brought by attendees.

“The majority of people there were civil servants with a few special advisers and others there,” the source said. “But it was mostly officials.”

Government advice from the time said: “Although there are exemptions for work purposes, you must not have a work Christmas lunch or party, where that is a primarily social activity and is not otherwise permitted by the rules in your tier.”

Further sources speaking to the Mirror also alleged that “many social gatherings” had taken place at Downing Street last year while the public faced restrictions, adding that there were “always parties” in Johnson’s grace-and-favour Downing Street flat, which he shares with his wife, Carrie.

And another claimed that “they were all getting totally plastered” on the night Cummings resigned from his Downing Street job on 13 November 2020.

Two Labour MPs, Neil Coyle and Barry Gardiner, the former shadow international trade secretary, have reported the incidents to the police, reported The Guardian.

No. 10 has denied that a party took place, and a spokesperson has declined to say whether an internal investigation will take place, but told reporters: “There was not a party and Covid rules have been followed at all times.”