Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary who has been tasked with investigating last winter’s Downing Street Christmas parties, faces accusations that he himself broke lockdown rules by attending an informal Christmas work party with his colleagues in December 2020, in violation of London’s Tier Two restrictions which were in place at the time. Although the regulations meant that indoor socialisation was banned, Whitehall officials claim that alcohol was brought into the office, and that Case was seen mingling with the guests. The Independent has more.
Britain’s top civil servant – who is investigating claims parties were held at Downing Street – has been accused of attending an impromptu Christmas drinks himself last year in breach of Covid rules, the Independent has learnt.
Simon Case, who was asked by Boris Johnson to look into potential Government gatherings at the end of 2020 , is alleged to have shared drinks with 15 to 20 staff in mid-December 2020, according to two Whitehall officials who attended the event.
The informal event, according to a joint investigation by the Independent and Politico, was said to have taken place at his office and in the waiting room outside in 70 Whitehall.
A third official, who did not attend, said the event was discussed the following week and they were asked whether they attended the “waiting room drinks.”
Today, Labour and the SNP questioned whether Case was suitable to lead an investigation into Downing Street’s allegedly rule-breaching parties, in light of the revelations.
A source close to the Cabinet Office said they could not rule out that drinks had been consumed at civil servants’ desks, but a spokesman rejected claims of an organised gathering, saying in a statement: “These allegations are categorically untrue.”
At the time, London was in Tier Two restrictions, meaning people were not allowed to socialise indoors and were told to work from home where possible.
Several bottles of wine and Prosecco were poured in the office, the two officials present claim, and in the waiting room of the cabinet secretary. Case allegedly carried a glass through the group as he greeted staff who gathered for what one official characterised as “last-minute” drinks, including civil servants from other departments.
Case was described as “in and out” of the gathering, drinking with colleagues. Crisps were also served and there were Christmas decorations on the tables, one of those present claimed. The same official said it was “a fairly regular occurrence” for civil servants to drink at their desks during this time but claimed that the gathering in Case’s office was “a piss-up” including his team and members of other departments.
The Whitehall employees who spoke to the Independent and Politico questioned the suitability of Simon Case to lead the inquiry into Downing Street parties.
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if you don’t need a mechanical ventilator you should be at home in bed with a lemsip
One of the very few plus points of this total shit show is that it might have stopped the type of plonker who would have gone to A&E with a broken nail or a bit of wind. But then I suppose their places might have been taken up by the ludicrous hyperchondriacs who are clearly actually having propaganda-induced panic attacks rather than genuinely suffering from the deadly Covid. Many of my mates have had Covid (as have I), but only one still claims she ‘almost died’. Not surprisingly she’s a self-obsessed drama queen.
ha! yes – I think people should pay upfront for A&E or GP visit and get paid back if its not trivial
That was my conclusion when noting empty GP waiting areas during 3 appointments in the course of a week just over a month ago.
Absent the hypochondriacs with imaginary conditions who are most likely the same individuals still ‘shielding at home’ 12 months after the arrival of scary Covid.
I have a friend who talks on Facebook about her “recovery journey” after Covid. One step from “Covid survivor” type stuff.
She is a triathlete and had a high temp with increased heart rate during her infection. Had a check up and sent home.
Or given Ivermectin, dexamethasone, etc, to get them better faster and out of hospital. Or an asthma inhaler.
This PPE story is a diversion. Anecdotally, at my local hospital patients are being sent to Covid wards if they have respiratory symptoms, even if they test negative for the virus. They go in these wards without the virus, they come out with it. Sometimes in a box. Someone needs to get a proper investigative journalism hat on and actually uncover this outrage.
Last I remember reading (some months back) such was the scale of Government over-ordering of PPE that some Container docks were jammed solid with bulk containers full of PPE with nowhere to go.
But these findings were discovered by an international team of researchers, I’ll have you know!
Official guidelines.
Drawn up by “experts” presumably. Who’d have thought it?!
“The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can give strong protection to children as young as 12, the two companies have announced following a trial.
In a small study involving 2,260 US volunteers aged 12 to 15, there were no cases of Covid-19 among those who have been fully vaccinated. Eighteen of those who received a placebo were infected.”
but how is their fertility?
How many of those infected had any symptoms?
If they don’t get symptoms, why do they need a vaccine?
If they don’t have symptoms, they don’t spread the virus, as illustrated in the article above, therefore they don’t need the vaccine.
Sushhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Quite a long time ago lockdownsceptics showed a chart that compared Covid deaths among working age people broken down by job type. It showed that health/care workers were no more likely to die from Covid than the working age population. This would appear to show that a supposed lack of PPE last spring was never a major problem despite all the media hype.