THE PRIME Minister has dodged questions about Christmas parties held at No.10 during lockdown last year.
Boris Johnson was asked by the leaders of Labour and the SNP about the claims reported in the Mirror today, during a tense Prime Minister's Questions.
However Mr Johnson avoided directly saying whether there had been festive gatherings on November 27 and December 18, instead urging the opposition leaders to focus on current covid rules amid rising cases of the Omicron variant.
Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer asked directly: “As millions of people were locked down last year, was a Christmas party thrown in Downing Street for dozens of people on December 18th?”
The Prime Minister replied: “What I can tell [him] is that all guidance was followed completely [in] Number 10 and can I recommend that he does the same with his own Christmas party, which is advertised for December 15th, to which unaccountably he’s failed to invite the deputy leader.”
Labour deputy Angela Rayner could be seen laughing and mouthing something to the Prime Minister, shaking her head during the response.
Mr Starmer said Mr Johnson was "taking the public for fools".
SNP Leader Ian Blackford began his questions by saying his thoughts were with those recovering from storm Arwen.
He then said it was "deeply regrettable" to again be talking about "the Prime Minister’s misconduct", adding: "Last Christmas the Prime Minister hosted a packed party in Downing Street. An event that broke lockdown rules."
"The Prime Minister might be denying it but I’ve spoken to the Mirror newspaper this morning and they are confirming what happened, and they have legal advice on potential illegality.
“At a time when public health messaging is so vital, how are people possibly expected to trust a Prime Minister when he thinks it’s one rule for him and one rule for everybody else?”
The Prime Minister said: “He’s talking total nonsense. I think he would have been better off, frankly, saying something about the victims of storm Arwen in Scotland.”
Mr Blackford could be seen shouting from the opposite benches that he had indeed mentioned the storm.
Mr Johnson added that the UK Government and Scottish authorities need to work together to get their power back “and that’s what we’re doing”.
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