Lockdown party video part of awful saga, says Torfaen MP

A video of Tory party activists at a Christmas party during lockdown in 2020 shows them "mocking" the rules, according to a Labour MP.

The video published by The Mirror shows workers drinking and dancing at an event in London in December that year.

Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds said it was part of a "quite awful saga" that happened while people made sacrifices.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove said the footage was "terrible" and would leave people feeling "extremely angry".

The Conservative Party said it had already taken disciplinary action over the event.

"What's new is the video that has emerged and what I think is so serious about this is this gathering is at Conservative campaign HQ," Mr Thomas-Symonds said.

"But people not only seem to be gathering, and of course indoor socialising was banned at the time in December 2020.

"There also appears to be a mocking of the rules that is going on in the video.

"There's, it seems, a piece of speech or someone is saying 'as long as we are not streaming like that we are breaking the rules'.

"So this is a pretty serious development and just illustrates, again, this quite awful saga where people up and down the country were making sacrifices to follow the rules that were imposed."

In the footage, one person is heard saying it is OK to film "as long as we don't stream that we're, like, bending the rules".

In the 45-second video on the Mirror website, people can also be seen drinking and standing in groups, while a man and a woman can be seen holding hands and dancing.

The Mirror said the video sheds new light on a gathering that police had previously looked into.

Mr Thomas-Symonds, who is Labour's shadow secretary of state for international trade, said it illustrated a "one rule it seems for those who are in government and another for everyone else".

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as an MP last week after getting an advanced copy of a report into allegations he misled Parliament over lockdown parties.

The main finding is that he deliberately misled the House of Commons by repeatedly telling it, after the Partygate scandal emerged, that Covid rules had been followed at all times in Downing Street.

He has already admitted MPs were misled by his original statements, but he said he believed them to be true at the time, and they were based on assurances he had received from officials.

However, the report found he had "personal knowledge" of breaches of the rules and guidance in No 10.

The former prime minister called the process a "kangaroo court", but Mr Thomas-Symonds said: "I will be voting tomorrow [Monday] if there is a vote for the endorsement of the findings of the Privileges Committee and the Privileges Committee has done in my view an extraordinarily thorough job and they have found, let's just not beat about the bush, they found the Boris Johnson lied to the House of Commons."

He said the issue "goes to the very heart of our democracy", adding: "Ministers have to come to the House of Commons, and they have to tell the truth to the House of Commons."

He said if ministers "deliberately lie", it "hugely restricts" people being able to hold them to account, adding: "So there is, in my view, a really serious principle at stake in our democracy, and that's why I will intend to vote for it tomorrow and I hope Conservative MPs will do so as well."