Mary Foy writes to PM over Downing Street Christmas party

Mary Foy has written to Boris Johnson detailing the harrowing case after she was contacted by a constituent who was caring for his sick wife at home at the time of rumoured festivities last year.

The Durham City MP said several people contacted her as Mr Johnson was quizzed about the event that “may or may not have happened” during PMQs on Wednesday before his former spokesperson, Allegra Stratton, resigned after she was seen joking about the situation on camera.

Allegra Stratton in the now infamous video,  left, and earlier this week as she resigned 

Ms Foy said: “The revelations of a party at Downing Street, which broke the Government’s own Covid guidance, are truly shocking.

“My constituents made grave sacrifices to protect themselves, their loved ones and our NHS.”

Ms Foy said ‘constant betrayals’ from the Government were breaking the public’s trust.

She said the Prime Minister needs to realise that his actions, and those of the Government, have serious consequences.

Mary Foy MP

Ms Foy said: “How can it be right that my constituents waved to loved ones through care home windows, lost the right to visit dying relatives in hospital and spent Christmas in small bubbles, all while Downing Street partied into the night?

“I have sent the experiences one of my constituents kindly shared with me to the Prime Minister in the hope that it might open his eyes to the trauma that people were going through while his own staff so blatantly flouted the rules.

“My constituent lost his wife, and his children lost their mother.

“Firm action must be taken swiftly against those who organised and attended the Downing Street party and if the Prime Minister or members of his cabinet were in attendance, resignations must follow.”

This morning Chief Whip Mark Spencer insisted Mr Johnson “will not have lied about any parties” in No 10 after it emerged the Prime Minister’s press chief addressed staff at one event last Christmas.

He said staff “were not drinking alcohol” and partying and claimed the Prime Minister can not know everything going on in Downing Street with its “hundreds of offices and rooms”.

Jack Doyle is alleged to have attended a Covid-rule-breaking party

The chief whip’s defence came after it was revealed Jack Doyle, who as No 10’s director of communications helped lead the denials in the scandal, gave out awards at one gathering.

ITV News, which first reported Mr Doyle’s presence at one event, said he addressed up to 50 people and made a speech at a party on December 18.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said it showed an investigation being carried out by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and ordered by the Prime Minister is a “sham”.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case who is looking into reports of a staff gathering held in Downing Street just days before Christmas

Mr Spencer said he was “assured that everybody in that building played by the rules” as he sought to explain how Mr Johnson may not know what was going on under his own roof.

“When you describe it as a house, it’s a department of Government, this is a huge, huge building, literally with hundreds and hundreds of offices and rooms,” the Sherwood MP told BBC Radio Nottinghamshire.

“No single person could account for what’s happening in those buildings – they are huge buildings.”

Told people are furious after suffering a miserable Christmas under Covid restrictions, Mr Spencer replied: “And so did the Prime Minister, believe me, he also had a miserable Christmas dealing with all of this and dealing with the coronavirus epidemic as many people did in No 10 working day and night trying to solve the challenges the country was facing.

“I’m told they were not drinking alcohol and having parties while that was going on.”

Pressure is building on Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the issue 

Asked if Mr Johnson should resign if he lied, the whip said: “The Prime Minister will not have lied about any parties. My understanding is that there was no party but we need to investigate that, the Cabinet Secretary will investigate it and we will establish the facts.”

Mr Spencer was also questioned over the mock press briefing on December 22 during which No 10 aides joked about Covid restrictions and a supposedly “fictional party” days earlier.

Asked why Allegra Stratton, who resigned as a Government adviser after footage of the rehearsal leaked, was unable to say if Mr Johnson condoned a Christmas party, the whip said: “Because there was no party, that’s where the joke was.”

The Cabinet Secretary will investigate multiple allegedly rule-breaking events in Downing Street in the run-up to Christmas last year, as the Prime Minister also faces questions over the funding of his lavish renovations to his No 11 flat.

Mr Doyle was also under scrutiny over his attendance at the event on December 11, during which the PA news agency understands he did present awards to the press team.

London was under Tier 3 restrictions at the time, limiting mixing indoors and banning work Christmas lunches and parties where they are “a primarily social activity”.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “There is an ongoing review, and we won’t be commenting further while that is the case.”

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the treasurer of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, said that “the truth must come out” about the various allegations levelled at Downing Street.

He told BBC’s Newsnight: “The truth should have been given and then the appropriate action against those who organised these parties – if that’s what they were, or gatherings… the appropriate disciplinary action should have been taken.

“And I think now as other commentators have said, the Prime Minister needs to get a grip on all of these matters.”

Read more: Funeral for Newton Aycliffe teen Jack Woodley

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