Downing Street apologized Friday to Elizabeth II for parties organized as the Queen prepared to bury her husband.
Departure drinks watered in full confinement and national mourning: Downing Street apologized to Elizabeth II on Friday for parties organized when the queen was preparing to bury her husband, humiliating conclusion to a week of disastrous revelations for Boris Johnson. This is one of the images symbols of the rigor of confinements in the United Kingdom: the nonagenarian queen, all dressed in black up to the mask, seated alone in the chapel of Windsor castle during the funeral of prince Philip.
Until the early morning of April 17, 2021, Downing Street collaborators – without the Prime Minister – were celebrating the departure of two members of the team, according to The Telegraph, communications director James Slack, since deputy editor of the tabloid The Sun, and a personal photographer for Boris Johnson. The partygoers, about thirty, had joined in the gardens of the official residence, according to the daily close to the power. A person had been sent to a supermarket to buy bottles of wine which they brought back to Downing Street in a suitcase, he said.
“It is deeply regrettable that this took place at a time of national mourning”
“It is deeply regrettable that this took place at a time of national mourning and 10 (Downing Street) has issued an apology to the Palace,” a spokesman for Boris Johnson said. At the time, indoor meetings were prohibited, with the British only being able to meet with a maximum of six outside. These apologies sent through the official channel are particularly humiliating for the conservative leader, now openly criticized in his majority and facing his worst crisis since coming to power. In a statement, James Slack also apologized “unreservedly for the anger and pain caused”.
Boris Johnson, 57, was not present and was, according to a spokesman quoted by the Telegraph, at Checkers, the country residence of British heads of government. But these new revelations add to an already long list of parties organized in circles of power during periods of confinement. They also highlight, according to witnesses quoted in the media, a real drinking culture in Downing Street.
They further sink the Conservative leader who, case of Covid contact, has not been seen in public since his mea culpa on Wednesday in Parliament for his presence at one of these parties in May 2020. He said he then thought he was it was a business meeting.
Now very weakened in the polls, which he flew over for a long time after his triumphant arrival in power in July 2019, he is now fighting for his retention at the head of the government. “The Queen sat alone, grieving, like so many others at the time, affected by personal trauma and sacrifice, in order to uphold the rules in the national interest,” denounced on Twitter Angela Rayner, the chief deputy of Labour, the main opposition party.
“A moral vacuum at the heart of the government”
Very critical, several Conservative MPs, some of whom have been fervent supporters so far, have joined the opposition in demanding the resignation of Boris Johnson. Denouncing “a moral vacuum at the heart of the government”, Andrew Bridgen is the latest to have sent a letter of defiance to a powerful committee governing the parliamentary organization of the Conservative Party. If he receives enough, the latter will have to organize a new leadership race to replace the Prime Minister.
The head of diplomacy Liz Truss, perceived as a potential candidate for the post of Prime Minister, said Friday to support him “100%”. Another potential challenger, his finance colleague Rishi Sunak, was much more reserved. But before drawing any consequences, Boris Johnson and his ministers repeat at will that it is advisable to wait, next week at best, for the conclusions of an internal investigation carried out by a senior official. Criticized for its wait-and-see attitude, the London police have adopted the same line.
The Times said on Friday that this investigation would not have found enough evidence of criminal offences. These parties also anger relatives of victims of Covid-19, which killed more than 150,000 people in the United Kingdom. The association Bereaved Families for Justice sees it as a “total disdain for the public”.
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