Another day, another party revelation.
Will there ever be an end to Party Gate? It doesn’t seem like it.
As there have been so many parties, it’s hard to keep track of them all, isn’t it?
But fear not! I’ve done the leg work and compiled a nice little list for you all.
What Is The Timeline Of Events?
Here’s a rough timeline so you can see how the parties played out against what was going on.
March 2020
23rd March, 2020 – Lockdown was announced on with the rules legally coming into force on the 26th March 2020.
27th March, 2020 – Boris Johnson Gets Covid.
April 2020
6th April, 2020 – Boris Johnson moved to intensive care.
12th April, 2020 – Boris Johnson discharged from hospital.
May 2020
5th May, 2020 – UK has highest infection rate in Europe.
10th May, 2020 – Restrictions easing, we are now allowed out of the house
Party 1. 15th May, 2020: Downing Street “cheese & wine” party..
Took place in the garden of Downing Street with lots of people present.
Party 2. 20th May, 2020: “Socially distanced drinks”.
AKA “Bring Your Own Booze”.
Downing Street staffers were invited to another garden party at No. 10.
30 people approx. attended – you weren’t allowed to mix with other households even outside at the time.
8th May, 2020: Test and Trace launched.
There would be no working mobile app until September though and they were apparently using an Excel spreadsheet to do the tracking 🤦.
June 2020
1st June, 2020: Reception & Year 6 pupils return to school. No mask mandates or ventilation are in place.
Party 3. 19th June, 2020: PM “Birthday Party”.
30 people attended and sang “Happy Birthday” to Johnson.
There was cake and M&S Picnic food and they mixed for around 30 minutes.
July 2020
4th July, 2020: Restrictions eased further.
Pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers are allowed to reopen. All “non-essential retail” soon follows.
September 2020
18th September, 2020: PM warns of a second wave.
October 2020
12th October, 2020: Regional tier system introduced.
This allows areas with a low R rate to remain relatively open.
Liverpool is the only area in tier 3 (the highest tier at this time) and people are banned from mixing indoors.
They hope tiers will stop the need for a second lockdown.
31st October, 2020: Second National Lockdown announced.
Pubs, restaurants & non-essential retail all closed.
November 2020
Party 4. 13th November, 2020: Party in the No. 10 Flat.
The PM and Carrie held a gathering after the departure of senior aide Lee Cain.
At this time indoor mixing was banned.
Party 5. 25th November, 2020: Treasury Office Spending Review Party.
24 civil servants met for “impromptu drinks” after working hours. Rishi Sunak was apparently not present.
Indoor mixing was banned at this point still.
Party 6. 27th November, 2020: No. 10 Leaving Do.
A party arranged for the departure of Cleo Watson. Cummings said it didn’t happen but others say Boris Johnson made a speech.
Mixing was still banned outside of support bubbles.
It seems odd Cummings is so adamant this party didn’t take place but will “Swear under oath” about the others.
Nothing to do with Watson being a protégé of his meaning he was probably there, I’m sure.
December 2020
2nd December, 2020: Lockdown ends, replaced with a new tier system.
They added a fourth tier.
Delta variant now spreading rapidly in London and the South East.
8th December, 2020: The Jabs in arms programme starts.
First vaccine is administered to Margaret Keenan, 90.
This would begin the Government’s push towards vaccination as a means to control the virus.
What they didn’t take into account though was that the vaccine would be less effective on Delta (and later Omicron).
It reduces hospitalisation rates but not to the extent needed.
Party 7. 10th December, 2020: Gavin Williamson Chrimbo Party.
Staff from the Education dept. met for “drinks and canapes”.
Indoor social mixing between people from different households was banned at this time.
Side Note: I can’t think of anything that could possibly be more depressing that attending a party thrown by (or in honour of) a man like Gavin Williamson who botched A-Level results for thousands meaning they lost university places.
And we now know he bullies colleagues[1]MailOnline: Gavin Williamson is accused of ‘bully-boy’ campaign to drive Boris Johnson into No 10 by ‘threatening’ fellow MPs to force them to back him].
Party 8. 14th December, 2020: Conservative HQ party.
25 people attended including London Mayoral Candidate Shaun Bailey who had to step down from his role on the London Assembly.
Indoor mixing was still banned.
Party 9. 15th December, 2020: No. 10 Christmas quiz.
While they state the quiz took place via Zoom, it’s reported that people huddled around screens to take part and stayed after for “drinks”.
Indoor mixing still banned.
Party 10. 16th December, 2020: Transport Dept. Party.
A Christmas party with top civil servants. London moved into Tier 3 this day.
This meant no mixing indoors with people outside their own household or support bubble.
Party 11. 17th December, 2020: Cabinet Office party.
Up to 20 staff attended a Christmas Quiz although it is claimed it was held remotely.
Simon Case took part. If you remember he was the one initially tasked with looking into these parties.
Party 12. 18th December, 2020: No. 10 Christmas party.
Around 40 to 50 people attended and asked to bring a “Secret Santa” gift.
Allegra Stratton had to resign after laughing about this party taking place.
She did not attend the party.
Only Bubbles allowed to mix.
19th December, 2020: Christmas Is Cancelled.
Christmas bubble plans are cancelled and we’re told to stay at home.
30th December, 2020: Tier 4.
Most of the UK moved into tier 4 as Delta spreads.
No New Years as mixing indoors in banned and outdoors is the rule of 6.
January 2021
4th January, 2021: Third Lockdown.
Schools are closed, pubs/restaurants & non-essential retail too.
February 2021
22nd February, 2021: Lockdown Roadmap.
Boris says no more restrictions past the 21st of June if we “follow the guidance” (does that sound familiar?)
March 2021
8th March, 2021: All schools reopen.
All school years go back – Still no ventilation in place
Two people can meet outdoors.
29th March, 2021: Rule Of Six Back.
You can meet up to 6 people from different household or more than six if just 2 households are involved.
Outdoor sport (golf, tennis etc.) reopens.
Organised outdoor sport can resume.
April 2021
12th April, 2021: Open All Hours.
Pubs, non-essential retail, gyms open.
Domestic holidays are back.
Weddings with 15 people can take place.
Party 13. April 16, 2021: TWO No. 10 parties.
Two separate parties on the same day that merged into one in the garden.
A suitcase used to buy extra booze.
Beer spilt on the carpet so they had to move to the garden.
Music blares from a laptop.
Prince Phillip was due to be buried the next day where the Queen sat alone obeying the rules.
Only 6 people were allowed to meet outdoors, work parties weren’t allowed.
May 2021
17th May, 2021: Indoors is open.
Rule of 6 inside.
Indoor dining in restaurants & pubs is back.
Cinemas open.
30 people now allowed at weddings.
“Party” 14. May 2021: Keir Starmer.
It wouldn’t be fair to not mention this, although Starmer apparently had a quick break between Zoom calls in a constituency office with a local MP and some colleges while planning for local by-election.
June 2021
21st June, 2021: It’s Big!
Larger events can go on.
Nightclubs open.
July 2021
19th July, 2021: “Freedom Day”.
All restrictions dropped.
No mask mandates.
Rule of 6 dropped.
December 2021
8th December, 2021: Plan B.
Johnson announces England is moving to “Plan B” to fight the Omicron variant.
Everything is open as usual but you will need to wear a face mask while indoors but in not hospitality settings.
Work from home where possible.
Vaccination passports in certain sites.
Side Note: The vaccination passport thing didn’t really make a lot of sense and when you needed to show them was just too confusing.
A nightclub with 100 people? Yes.
A sports venue outside with 3,999 people? No.
Venues limited entry numbers to get around the rules.
January 2022
19th January, 2022: Just Live With It.
Johnson announces to Parliament that all restrictions will be lifted included mask mandates and work from home advice from 27th January.
Over 400 people a day were dying at this point.
20th January, 2022: No masks in schools.
Mask mandate for schools scrapped – government have funded ventilation for about 7,500 classrooms.
Side Note: I deliberately left out NHS admission rates and the daily death figure for these days because I wanted to highlight what was happening in general during this time period, against the back drop of the rules we were allow following in at the time.
What Were Officials Doing During This Time Period?
On the 26th March, 2020, the day Lockdown became law, Police were using drones to shame people who were just going for a walk[2]The Guardian: UK police use drones and roadblocks to enforce lockdown.
At this point you could be fined £30 just for leaving your house if the police didn’t think your excuse was “valid: enough.
As of the 22nd January, 2022, over 1,500 fines were handed out in Dorset alone[3]DorsetEcho: 1,500 fines issued to Covid offenders.
Nice little money earner if you ask me.
According to the article:
“Across England and Wales, 124,581 fines have been issued by the 43 territorial police forces, British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence for alleged breaches of Covid-19-related laws since the pandemic began.”
Where did all that money go?
It certainly didn’t go towards PPE in the NHS or schools, did it?
Maybe the government used it on the wine fridges they apparently smuggled into number 10[4]The Mirror: Wine fridge smuggled into Number 10 that staff kept stocked from Tesco Express dashes.
IMAGE
Downing Street Culture
Under Johnson, there’s been a culture of drinking and socialising with some insiders saying that they’d drink late into the night, crash out on a sofa and attend work in the same clothes the next day.
I don’t know but I’ve never worked at a place that allowed that sort of behaviour.
I did sleep under a desk once but that’s because I had to push out a website update at 3am and it made no sense to go home – no booze was involved though.
What concerns me is how are these people making decisions that affect millions of people when:
- They don’t abide by those decisions themselves
- Admit on camera to supposedly not knowing what the rules were at the time even though they literally announced them on TV
- Were apparently three sheets to the wind so often that they needed to install mini-fridges for their wine
- Were that organised they had a wheelie suitcase to transport wine in which indicates that wasn’t their first rodeo
Imagine you were at a job and you started drinking at 1pm at your desk.
(I can’t find the article where this was mentioned now).
Would you still be employed?
Full disclosure: I worked for a company that had a contract with Kronenbourg.
They would send us a case of beer once a week as a “Thank you”.
We would each take a beer home to drink, not have it in the office.
I’ll also disclose that I used to take my team out for a pint on a Friday.
ONE PINT.
Not a fridge full of Chardonnay.
And that brings us up to date as of the 25th January 2022
I hope seeing the parties against the backdrop of the restrictions us “normal” people were facing shines a light on how morally bankrupt this government is and how terrible the culture in No. 10 is too.
How many more are going to come out?
I Would seem they were averaging at least one a week at some point so I am sure we’ve only heard of a limited number of them.
Hopefully with everyone seeing them here in one place you’ll start to see the gravity of the situation and the contempt that the Government had towards those of use who “followed the guidance” and obeyed the law.
Various excuses have been used such as “It was a work event”.
Well, I have never been to a meeting in my workplace where they put on free booze and then send someone out with a suitcase for more .
Maybe I just worked in the wrong places 🤷
Boris Johnson also said “all guidance was followed”.
Well it wasn’t was it?
They ignored the rule of six outside on multiple occasions – even ignoring the fact that cheese & wine were present.
Was guidance followed in those outdoor parties when we saw people standing close to each other?
Social distance guidance wasn’t followed, was it?
“Nobody said to me that this is an event that is against the rules” Said Boris Johnson[5]Sky News: Boris Johnson receives questionnaire from Met Police about lockdown-breaking parties
Mate. If I did what you did I would have a £10,000 fine.
And let’s not forget that Johnson “forgot” to wear a mask on numerous occasions.
Most notably in a hospital[6]ITV News: Boris Johnson apologises for not wearing a mask on hospital visit, saying it was a ‘mistake’
Where there are sick people
The Bigger Picture
So while I have given you a full time line of events at Number 10 and in the wider government
Events that would be illegal for the rest of us to have taken part in on the dates that these “work events and definitely not parties) took place….
It’s important to look at the bigger picture in regards to Boris and how he manages his cabinet and staff.
The £37 BILLION lost on Test and Trace.
The unlawful VIP fast lane that awarded contracts to companies that didn’t even exist at the time[7]BBC News: Covid: Government’s PPE ‘VIP lane’ unlawful, court rules
This is indicative of a wider level of Tory Corruption than we’ve ever seen.
They have continually pushed the boundaries of what is lawful and when they get found out it’s just a “Whoops! Soz. No one told me I wasn’t allowed to to it” response.
And they get away with it.
Time and time again.
And the problem is, they did for so long thanks to the press being in their pockets and rich donors who can pay the government’s way out of trouble.
Can you imagine what would have happened to Tony Blair if he got caught begging for 50 grand for wallpaper?
He’d have been booted straight out.
What if John Major’s affair with Edwina Currie had come out when he was PM?
Bye By John Boy.
And yet Johnson seems to have this uncanny ability to use his apparent buffoonery to save his skin
Each. And. Every Time.
This buffoonery is a complete act by the way.
He’s been seen to mess up his hair on purpose before he goes on camera and get things wrong on purpose..
Surely his hapless persona can only continue to save him for so much longer.
He’s been called a Narcissist by several journalists and commentators now and if “Operation Save Big Dog” isn’t a sign of his Narcissist entitlement, I don’t know what is
He’ll throw anyone under the bus to save himself[8]The Guardian: ‘Operation Save Big Dog’: who is in the line of fire at No 10?
In case you’re not aware of narcassistic traits, I think Boris Johnson checks all the boxes[9]MBGRelationships: 15 Signs You’re Dealing With A Narcissist, From A Therapist.
And then off the back of “Big Dog” if that wasn’t enough we have “Operation Red Meat” where Boris Johnson, from his lofty perch will throw scraps of legislation at his backbenchers in order to save his own thick skin[10]i News: What is Operation Red Meat? Boris Johnson’s plan to rescue his premiership explained
My Personal Thoughts
So, am I surprised that these parties happened?
No
The culture in No. 10 meant they were always going to happen
And Boris was going to let them so he would be seen as a kind and benevolent leader.
What annoys me the most is that THEY WORK FOR US
We pay their wages
We elect them
We trust them to do right by us
And they laughed and thought they could get away with this
And what’s worse is that when they were found out, instead of saying something like “Look, I now I missed 5 COBRA meetings and delayed locking down on multiple occasions but the times I turned up I worked really hard and I though it would be good for moral”.
But no.
Being honest and accepting responsibility is something that Boris Johnson just isn’t capable of
He’s in it for one person only
And that person is Boris Johnson
I mean, the man won’t even admit to how many children he has so he’s not going to being wrong.
The revelations about the Party Whip blackmailing people come as no surprise either
Never forget that Johnson conspired to have someone he didn’t like beaten up
A little light blackmail? That’s nothing!
I wrote to my MP for the first time as I was so enraged by this “one rule for them” attitude
He said he needed to see Sue Gray’s report before making his mind up
At this point, Sue Gray will never be able to finish it as the revelations just keep coming.
Another problem is that Sue Gray isn’t truly independent
She’s a civil servant
Her boss is…. Prime Minister Boris Johnson
She’s been fair and balanced in the past and got two people to resign over various allegations of wrong doing
BUT….
If Johnson already has a list of people he’s happy to get rid of if the “Operation Save Big Dog” leaks are true
What’s to say that Sue Gray doesn’t point the finger of blame at them and Boris Johnson gets away with it all
Again?
The rot starts from the top
He started partying and the others followed suit
I mean, why wouldn’t they? If Boris says it’s okay then it must be, right?
So in order for this culture to stop, surely he has to go?
And if this isn’t enough to topple him, what will be?
He’ll be long gone before he can be hauled over the coals with the COVID enquiry
150,000 dead while he partied and that’s STILL not enough for his party to give him the chop
The whole lot need to go
None of them have a shred of credibility left
This government is no longer fit for purpose
This was originally published as a series of tweets from the 24th and 25th of January 2022. You can view the original thread here. Some elements have been edited in this article to fix spelling mistakes or to clarify a point further than the 280 character limit if Twit
Katy is the editor-in-chief of FlippingHeck.com a blog about Self-Improvement, Productivity and Small Business Tips. When she’s not working, she enjoys gaming, making music and Reviewing Things.
