Hannah Walton-Hughes
Following on from the shocking release of video evidence on 18th December 2021 regarding a Downing Street Christmas party, a new photograph has emerged, showing Tory aides gathering in the Tory’s Westminster HQ for a Christmas party on 14th December 2020. Impact’s Hannah Walton-Hughes discusses this new development in the evolving story.
An image has come to the attention of the press and the public. It shows 24 Tory aides gathering at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) on 14th December 2020; a party connected with the mayoral campaign of Shaun Bailey.
Since the image was released by The Mirror, Shaun Bailey has resigned as the chair of the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee, after being approached by them for comment. Bailey, who is teetotal, left the party at around 10pm according to The Mirror, shortly before appearing on BBC’s Newsnight.
this party happened whilst London was under Tier Two restrictions
He was not the only high profile member of the Conservatives who was present; another was a ‘senior member’ of Boris Johnson’s electoral campaign.
Shaun Bailey stayed at CCHQ until 10pm the night of the Christmas partyhttps://t.co/3vqvemHHme pic.twitter.com/tZdfo7KGbU
— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) December 18, 2021
The photo shows the party members wearing Christmas hats, and raising glasses of wine as a toast. There is very clearly a buffet behind them.
The party has been described as ‘raucous’.
This party happened whilst London was under Tier Two restrictions; social mixing indoors was banned with only a few exceptions. People had been asked to only spend time indoors with their own household, so rife was the virus.
Cabinet minister @grantshapps says Shaun Bailey’s CCHQ party – with drinks and catering – was “absolutely unacceptable” but it was “not authorised” by Tory bosses. #Today
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) December 15, 2021
Not only that: just a couple of hours before this party took place, the then Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced that London would move into the even tougher Tier Three restrictions, where mixing between households both indoors and outdoors would be prohibited.
Scotland Yard has not got involved with the alleged parties
The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner, reiterated her anger that whilst the majority of the population were doing everything they could to keep everyone safe, the chair of the Police and Crime Committee was ‘partying’.
A spokesman for Shaun Bailey’s campaign says that a ‘serious error of judgement’ was made, and that they ‘apologise’ for breaking the rules.
Until now, Scotland Yard has not got involved with the alleged parties, but it is unclear whether this will put a spanner in the works.
Questions remain as to how constantly emerging evidence of illegal get-togethers will impact trust in the government’s response to the pandemic, and the PM’s ability to govern.
Halton Walton-Hughes
Featured image courtesy of Dorien Monnens via Unsplash. Image licence found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image 1 courtesy of @MirrorPolitics via @twitter.com. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image 2 courtesy of @PippaCrerar via @twitter.com. No changes were made to this image.
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