For days, a succession of government ministers batted away questions about whether an illegal party had been held in Downing Street last December during Covid restrictions that banned gatherings of more than 30 people. But on Tuesday night that all changed: a video emerged of Downing Street staffers appearing to joke about a party alleged to have been held inside No 10 just days earlier.
It provoked a wave of anger both within and out of parliament. Eventually Boris Johnson surfaced at prime minister’s questions to apologise for the content of the video – but also to continue to claim that no rules had actually been broken in his official residence.
The Guardian’s Peter Walker looks back on a week of drama in which Boris Johnson also returned to the podium in Downing Street to announce new plan B coronavirus restrictions, sparking a further revolt on his own backbenches. Then, on Thursday, further questions about his judgment were raised after the Conservative party was fined £17,800 for serious donation reporting failures over the financing of the Downing Street flat redecoration.
Next week, those Covid restrictions are due before parliament in the days before the Tories attempt to defend their seat in North Shropshire from a newly hopeful Liberal Democrat challenge on Thursday.
- Clips freom: ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, Channel 5
Photograph: ITV
Support The Guardian
The Guardian is editorially independent.
And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to all.
But we increasingly need our readers to fund our work.
