Boris Johnson’s Christmas Parties. A tradition but in December 2020 not a legal one
Boris Johnson is the elected leader of a political party a job he doesn’t really seem that interested in doing. By contrast he is a great enthusiast for another kind of party-the one involving champagne and nibbles (tbh sausage rolls and crisps don’t cut it). Sonia Purnell’s biography of Johnson, Just Boris, has numerous accounts of parties he has attended. A lot were thrown by his erstwhile employers the Spectator and the Telegraph. When he was married to Marina Wheeler and lived in Islington he was also, according to Purnell, a frequent attender at dinner parties.
When he was elected London Mayor in 2008 he threw his own parties(paid for by the taxpayer obviously) and in that year The Tatler described him as ‘party viagra’.
He has not denied that a Christmas party was held at Downing St in December 2020, the one that started off the whole parties investigation. The Daily Mirror has published a picture of the Christmas Quiz which took place via Zoom on 15th December 2020 which clearly shows an open bottle of champagne. No problem with that except in the context of the times when COVID laws banned social mixing in London. It clearly was not really a work event either but a social quiz.
It’s almost impossible to see how this didn’t break the then lockdown rules. No doubt the Met Police will now have a think about it in due course.
What though of pre-restrictions 2019. Johnson had just won an Election and was celebrating.
According to the perhaps not totally reliable source of Tom Bower (Boris Johnson, the Gambler) on Friday December 13th after returning to Downing St from Buckingham Palace where he had seen the Queen, Johnson headed to Brown’s hotel off Piccadilly. The hotel is owned by Brexiteer Rocco Forte and a celebration party was being held.
One party however was not enough for Johnson. He then went to Evgeny Lebedev’s ‘traditional’ Xmas party which was in his house overlooking Regents Park. Unlimited caviar and champagne were available. In 2020 Johnson made Lebedev a Peer..
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