Officials who tried to stop illegal lockdown gatherings in Downing Street were “mocked” by other members of staff who sank into a culture of boozy parties, according to accounts from government insiders.
Details of what life was like inside Boris Johnson’s partygate Downing Street have been given to the BBC’s Laura Kuennsberg ahead of the publication of the Sue Gray report.
In a special Panorama programme on BBC 2 to be aired tonight, on the eve of the Prime Minister receiving the explosive Sue Gray report, it details what it was like in No 10 during the covid lockdown.
Insiders who attended events during lockdown told the BBC how staff crowded together, sat on each other’s laps and how party debris was left out overnight.
Speaking anonymously, three insiders describe arriving for work the morning after a get-together to find bottles lying around parts of the building, bins overflowing with rubbish and empties left on the table.
They also tell of events with dozens of staff crowded together, and parties going so late that, on occasion, some ended up staying in Downing Street all night.
The programme contains more details about the pictures which emerged on Monday of Boris Johnson attending a leaving do for his communications director Lee Cain.
One person described how as the party developed “there were about 30 people, if not more, in a room. Everyone was stood shoulder to shoulder, some people on each other’s laps…one or two people.”
According to one insider events were routine with the Friday invitation was known as “WTF” - meaning “Wine-Time Friday” and a reference to a less polite acronym.
The source said: “They were every week.The event invites for Friday press office drinks were just nailed into the diary.”
Some staff questioning what was going on by a former staffer described how difficult it felt to raise concerns.
Security guard mocked
A Downing Street security guard, was mocked when they tried to stop a party in full flow.
One said: “I remember when a custodian tried to stop it all and he was just shaking his head in this party, being like, ‘This shouldn’t be happening’.
“People made fun of him because he was so worked up that this party was happening and it shouldn’t be happening."
One suggested they felt like they had the prime minister’s permission to socialise even it meant breaking the rules because, “he was there.”
They said: “He may have just been popping through on the way to his flat because that’s what would happen,” they add. “You know, he wasn’t there saying this shouldn’t be happening.
“He wasn’t saying, ‘Can everyone break up and go home? Can everyone socially distance? Can everyone put masks on?’
“No, he wasn’t telling anybody that. He was grabbing a glass for himself.”
At another notorious party on the eve of Prince Philip ’s funeral on 16 April 2021, one source describes a “lively event... a general party with people dancing around”.
The gathering becoming so loud that security guards in the building told them to leave the building and go into the No 10 grounds.
“So everyone grabbed all the drinks, the food, everything, and went into the garden. We all sat around the tables drinking. People stayed the night there.”
Partygate: Inside the Storm is on BBC 2 tonight at 7pm.
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