XMAS DO AS I SAY
Here’s everything Boris Johnson is telling YOU to do after having one very different rule for THEM
BORIS Johnson imposed dramatic Plan B virus rules yesterday — as the Tories faced a backlash over last year’s No10 Christmas party.
The Grinch PM was accused of “one rule for them, one for us”.
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Senior Tory Mark Harper fumed: “Why should people listen to his instructions to follow the rules when people inside Number 10 Downing Street don’t do so?”
The PM told Brits to work from home again if they can and wear masks at most indoor public venues, while ordering vaccine passports and contact testing for Omicron.
He apologised for the 2020 lockdown-breaking party, and top aide Allegra Stratton quit in tears after footage showed her joking with staff over the bash.
Speaking at Downing Street, the PM said he had no choice but to impose new curbs.
Statistics now show 568 Brits infected with Omicron, but scientists say 10,000 have the bug.
Gloomy ministers believe infection rates will soar to one million by the end of the month.
Tories slammed the “tyrannical” measures and said fed-up Brits cannot be expected to stick to rules when Downing Street staff do not.
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MP Greg Smith said: “We are being encouraged to go to (our own) Christmas parties while being told to avoid the office at all costs. These rules are absurdly baffling to even the most authoritarian lockdown supporter.”
Privately Tory MPs accused the PM of rushing the Plan B decision to distract from the row over the No10 party.
One said: “It is ridiculous. It is no way to run a country.”
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MPs claimed Mr Johnson had undermined the rollout of his Plan B restrictions by wrecking public confidence in Covid rules.
But he insisted he knew nothing of last year’s bash at No 10 and launched an internal inquiry into whether aides and civil servants had broken the law with their cheese and wine bash.
Despite complaints from Labour MPs, the Met Police last night said they would not investigate the alleged breach of rules due to an “absence of evidence”.
Earlier Mr Johnson told MPs he was furious about leaked footage showing aides laughing and discussing the 2020 soiree on December 18 when London was under Tier 3 measures.
Ms Stratton, 41, was filmed taking part in a mock press conference in preparation for televised briefings when she joked about the event.
'ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE'
But yesterday in a tearful statement, she offered her “profound apologies” and said she will “regret those remarks for the rest of my days”.
Mr Johnson has been dogged for a week by questions over staff breaking lockdown rules, but he has repeatedly insisted he had been assured no rules were broken.
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Yet after the bombshell video leak, he finally admitted he had based his position on assurances from “respected civil servants and special advisers”.
Mr Johnson then asked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case “to establish all the facts and to report back as soon as possible”.
The PM added: “It goes without saying that if those rules were broken, then there will be disciplinary action for all those involved.
“I understand and share the anger up and down the country at seeing No 10 staff seeming to make light of lockdown measures because I was also furious to see that clip.
“I apologise unreservedly for the offence that it has caused.”
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the PM's apology “raises more questions than answers” as he had been “caught red-handed”.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said Mr Johnson should quit if he is found to have misled Parliament.
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Recording shows Downing Street staff JOKE about holding Christmas party in No10 – as cops say they are reviewing footage
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