UK PM's press chief Jack Doyle was at No 10 party last year

UK PM's press chief Jack Doyle was at No 10 party last year
December 10, 2021, 6:52 am

Jack Doyle-UK Prime Minister press chief/Facebook page

The BBC reported, the PM's press chief addressed staff and gave out awards at a Downing Street party last Christmas that is now under investigation.

Jack Doyle, then deputy director of communications, gave a speech to 20-30 people at the gathering on 18 December.

A source has told the BBC there were food, drinks and games at the event.

Downing Street said: "There is an ongoing review, and we won't be commenting further while that is the case."

The BBC said, this event is one of three government staff gatherings from last year now being investigated by the UK's top civil servant, Simon Case.

England-London-Westminster-Westminster bridge/Pixabay

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said news of Mr Doyle's attendance had "exposed" Mr Case's inquiry as a "sham".

The BBC has been told, Jack Doyle was also attending Covid meetings in No 10 that night, which went on until late in the evening.

It said that it is understood every Friday Mr Doyle would thank staff for working hard and give out an award.

ITV News, which first reported that Mr Doyle was present at this event on 18 December, said he had also handed out award certificates to staff on this occasion.

According to the BBC, the event took place two days after London went into Tier 3 lockdown restrictions, which meant that people were told not to mix indoors with anyone outside their household or support bubble.

No 10 has refused to explain how the party complied with Covid restrictions in force at the time, despite a deepening row and days of questioning by reporters.

The BBC mentioned that the prime minister told the Commons on Wednesday that he had been "repeatedly assured" that there had been no party and that no Covid rules had been broken on that date.

The row has already prompted the resignation of government adviser Allegra Stratton, who quit her post on Wednesday after an angry backlash over a video obtained by ITV News, she appeared in from last December where she joked about a Christmas party.

Following her resignation, Mr Johnson told MPs that he was "furious" about the clip and was launching an investigation into whether rules had been broken last Christmas.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who is carrying out the investigation, is also looking into a No 10 staff event on 27 November last year, and a gathering at the Department of Education on 10 December. The inquiry could be widened out if it considered there are credible allegations about other events.

After it emerged Mr Doyle spoke at the 18 December event, Ms Rayner said: "The government's internal investigation has been exposed as the sham it is.

"The investigation has only just published its terms of reference, and we are already seeing more details from the media than the Cabinet Office about the parties."

Source: BBC

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