Piers Morgan slams ‘shameful’ Downing Street video of staff joking about Christmas party: ‘The big lie exposed’

Piers Morgan doubts the British public will find the video amusing (Picture: Rex)

Piers Morgan has hit out at the ‘shameful’ leaked video of Downing Street staff joking about a secret Christmas party last year.

Footage obtained by ITV News shows Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former press secretary Allegra Stratton answering questions at a mock press conference on December 22, 2020, about a party the previous Friday.

It comes after Mr Johnson insisted no rules were broken following claims a Christmas bash was held at No 10 during Covid restrictions.

At the rehearsal with Ms Stratton, Ed Oldfield, a special adviser to Mr Johnson, asked her: ‘I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night, do you recognise those reports?’

Ms Stratton replied ‘I went home’ before a discussion with colleagues about whether the event was a ‘cheese and wine’ evening.

She added: ‘This fictional party was a business meeting … and it was not socially distanced.’

‘Wow. The big lie exposed, in their own damning words,’ Piers wrote as he retweeted the footage.

‘And look how funny they all found it. I doubt the British public will find this quite so amusing.’

In a separate post, he continued: ‘Boris Johnson is continuing to lie about last year’s illicit Christmas party at No10 – even when we’ve all now seen his own spokeswoman on video laughing about it & wondering how best to lie about it to the media.

‘Even by his standards, this is absolutely shameful.’

Allegra Stratton answered questions at a mock press conference on December 22, 2020, about a party the previous Friday (Picture: Reuters)

In response to the footage, a Downing Street spokesman said: ‘There was no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times.’

There have been calls for Mr Johnson to resign as leader of the Conservatives after the video emerged.

The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, said: ‘This video is damning and leaves the Prime Minister with a lot to answer for.

More: Boris Johnson

‘When every individual up and down the country was told to stay at home in order to protect the NHS, the Tories were instead having a Christmas party which, as a senior staff member has now confirmed, was “not socially distanced”.

‘If this is true, then the Prime Minister’s position is untenable and he must remove himself from office immediately.’

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