Downing Street has been accused of hosting two parties on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral last year.
Eyewitnesses have told The Telegraph how two events were thrown at Number 10 on April 16, despite lockdown rules preventing such behaviour.
One event was the departure of James Slack, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s director of communications.
Some Downing Street staff reportedly gathered for the farewell party and eventually headed out to the garden with their drinks.
A partygoer also allegedly managed to break a swing outside belonging to Mr Johnson’s son Wilf.
A Downing Street spokesman told LADbible: “On that person’s last day [James Slack] gave a farewell speech to thank each team for the work done to support him, both those who had to be in the office for work and those who worked from home on the screen.”
The other party, reportedly held the same evening (April 16), was a farewell for one of the Prime Minister’s personal photographers.
This one was described by someone as being made up of much younger staff and having a “party atmosphere with blaring music”.
At one point, an employee was allegedly ordered to go to a nearby co-op with a briefcase to buy alcohol.
A witness told The Telegraph that people were “concerned about too much wine being spilled on the basement carpet‘ so they went upstairs.
People who have confessed to the British newspaper said the parties consisted of “excessive drinking” and there was even dancing at the latter.
One participant reported that the two gatherings took place in different parts of Number 10 before eventually merging.
One person said the soirees lasted into the early hours of April 17.
Boris Johnson did not attend either event.
It’s a damning accusation for the British government because tens of millions of Britons played by the rules back then. But it’s even worse because it happened specifically last year.
Just hours after the alleged parties ended, Queen Elizabeth II sat in a private chapel at Windsor Castle to say goodbye to her husband, who had lived for more than seven decades.
Pictures of the British monarch sitting almost entirely alone in the chapel broke people’s hearts as social distancing rules required Prince Philip’s funeral to be a small ceremony.
The UK was in step 2 of lockdown easing at the time, but the rules meant citizens could not socialize indoors with people from outside their household. People could only meet outside in groups of six or two households.
These two alleged parties add to a growing list of gatherings Downing Street is said to have hosted over the past two years while lockdown measures were put in place.
The Queen was forced to sit alone to say goodbye to her husband of seven decades while staff at Number 10 left their hair down the night before.
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