November 30, 2021 – Reports of the Christmas party during the lockdown: The Mirror newspaper reported on a December 2020 Christmas party – the first such report of meetings during the first lockdown at government offices and Johnson’s Downing Street office. At the time, contacts in England were severely limited. This first report was followed by more and photos as evidence in the weeks that followed. One of these photos shows Johnson moderating a Christmas quiz for his employees.
December 7th – Employees make fun of: ITV releases a video of employees reenacting a press conference and making fun of how to explain a meeting on Downing Street. Just hours earlier, Johnson had told reporters that he was very satisfied that no corona restrictions were being disregarded.
December 8 – Johnson apologizes and spokeswoman leaves: Johnson apologizes for the video and says it makes him angry. His spokeswoman and advisor, Allegra Stratton, who can be seen in the video, is stepping down.
December 9 – Downing Street Renovation Penalty: The Conservative Party is sentenced to a fine of 17,800 pounds by the electoral authority. The party is alleged to have failed to properly identify a donation that was used to fund the renovation of the Downing Street headquarters. This raised the question of who was paying for the work. According to media reports, the renovation cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
December 17th – Resignation of the chief investigator for the Christmas party affair: The head of the ongoing government investigations into possible corona violations at inadmissible Christmas parties, Simon Case, resigns. Case has stepped back to maintain public confidence in the investigation, Johnson’s office said. Case, the UK’s senior official, himself came under fire after British media reported that his department had meetings in his department in December 2020. Case will be assigned to Sue Gray, a senior officer in the Department of Housing and Community.