britain's prime minister boris johnson
has apologized for showing a video which
shows his staff joking about a christmas
party last year at number 10 downing
street which was in the middle of the
coronavirus lockdown now this follows a
week of denials from the government
about such a party had even been taking
place at the event guests are reported
to have enjoyed cheese and wine and
taken part in a secret santa and party
games our political correspondent damian
gramaticus reports
cabinet ministers this morning
foreign secretary is it one rule for
downing street and another for the rest
of the country
[Music]
today in downing street they were
deciding if new covid restrictions will
be imposed anybody have any questions
today but it's the video of what
happened here last year that's caused a
crisis i've just seen reports from
twitter that there was a downing street
christmas party on friday night do you
recognize those reports
i went home
[Laughter]
laughter about something which for most
isn't a laughing matter what's the
answer i don't know i didn't wasn't the
bartender's cheese and wasn't clear
there's cheese from mine all right it
was a business meeting
and we know there was a christmas party
and it was not socially distanced
the video is so damaging for boris
johnson because for a week he's defended
those in it just as he defended matt
hancock and dominic cummings and it's
left him exposed members of the public
who followed the rules at the time
furious his mps too his ability to get
people to follow new restrictions
undermined
so a prime minister facing questions at
every turn
but he didn't even wait for one before
making a statement
and i can understand
how infuriating it must be to think that
the people who have been setting the
rules have not been following the rules
mr speaker because i was also furious to
see that clip
and mr speaker
i apologize
i apologize unreservedly for the offense
that it has caused up and down the
country and i apologize for the
impression that it gives
he announced an internal investigation
but said he'd been assured there was no
party
we've all watched the video of the prime
minister's staff
including his personal spokesperson
they knew there was a party
they knew it was against the rules they
knew they couldn't admit it
and they thought it was funny
it's obvious what happened
anton decker ahead of the prime minister
on this
mr speaker i've been repeatedly assured
that no rules were broken
her majesty the queen sat alone when she
marked the passing of the man she'd been
married for 73 years
leadership
sacrifice
that's what gives leaders the moral
authority to lead
does the prime minister think he has the
moral authority to lead and to ask the
british people to stick to the rules
not only that mr speaker but uh they the
labour party and the the labour leader
in particular have played politics have
played politics mr speaker throughout
throughout this pandemic
there was even a call for the prime
minister to go
the only right
and moral choice left to him
it is for
[Applause]
mr speaker i'm uh the party opposite and
indeed the other party opposite are
going to continue to play politics i am
going to get on with the job
damian grammaticus bbc news westminster
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