PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has apologised for a video that showed his staff joking about a Christmas party last December and said he was ‘sickened’ by it.
But speaking to MPs, he said he had been ‘repeatedly assured’ that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken.
The Prime Minister’s comments come on the day further Coronavirus restrictions could be introduced in a bid to tackle the Omnicron variant, despite there being no reported hospitalisations from the variant in the UK.
Speaking at PMQ’s, the Prime Minister said he ‘’understood the anger’ at seeing No 10 staff seeming to make light of lockdown measures.
“I was also furious to see that clip,” he said.
“I apologise unreservedly for the offence that it gave up and down the country.”
But his words were dismissed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer who pointed to Her Majesty the Queen, who sat alone at the funeral of her husband, Prince Philip to stick by the rules.
“Leadership, sacrifice, thats what gives leaders the moral authority to lead,” he adds.
“Does the PM think he has the moral authority to lead and ask the British people to stick to the rules?”
Meanwhile sources have indicated new restrictions could be announced as early as this afternoon as the Government considers ‘Plan B’ which could involve limiting entry to public venues to those who have not been vaccinated and again asking people to work from home.
In an indication of the mood among his critics on the Tory backbenches, Mr Johnson was warned by critic William Wragg MP that ‘very few will be convinced by this diversionary tactic’.
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