Senior British minister Michael Gove has described a video of a party at the Conservative Party’s headquarters during a lockdown in 2020 as “terrible”, as COVID rule-breaking gatherings continue to hang over the government.
Key points:
- Two of the people at the party were given honours by Boris Johnson
- Boris Johnson stepped down as a member of parliament on June 9
- The party was in December 2020 when people were banned from socialising indoors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19
The video was published by the Mirror newspaper just days after a parliamentary committee ruled that former prime minister Boris Johnson had wilfully misled MPs about rule-breaking lockdown parties at his office.
The 45-second clip showed revellers partying in December 2020 when the British public in London were banned from socialising indoors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Police have reportedly confirmed they have seen the footage and are “considering it”.
Two of the people at the party, were given honours by Mr Johnson in his resignation list earlier in June.
“It’s terrible,” Housing Minister Michael Gove told Sky News.
“I think it’s completely out of order. I just want to apologise to everyone really.”
The issue of rule-breaking during COVID lockdowns helped bring down Mr Johnson, who left office last year, and still hangs over the Conservatives and current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Mr Johnson stepped down as a member of parliament on June 9, just days before the privileges committee — the main disciplinary body for MPs — issued its damning verdict on him, re-opening divisions in the party and re-igniting public anger.
Polls suggested the Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010, are trailing the opposition Labour party by about 20 percentage points.
The next election must be held by late 2024.
MPs to vote on Johnson
MPs will vote on Monday on whether to endorse the privileges committee’s report.
Although largely symbolic now as Mr Johnson has quit, his supporters have said those who backed its findings could face a backlash from Conservative members and even face de-selection as parliamentary candidates.
Mr Gove said he would abstain, saying parts of the report were “excellent” but he did not agree with its conclusion that Mr Johnson should have been suspended from parliament for 90 days had he remained an MP.
He said he did not know what Mr Sunak himself would do.
The ongoing saga of COVID “party gate” headlines will do little for Mr Sunak’s attempts to focus on boosting Britain’s flagging economy, with homeowners facing large increases in mortgage repayments as the Bank of England hikes interest rates in a bid to curb stubbornly high inflation.
When asked if the government would step in to help borrowers, he said it had no immediate plans to intervene but was keeping the matter under review.
“The worst thing to do would be to spend money in order to provide a short-term relief, which would then mean that our overall finances were in a weaker position, and interest rates were higher for longer and inflation was high for longer,” Mr Gove said.
Reuters