British newspaper: Employees held regular Friday parties in Downing Street

During the corona pandemic, employees at Boris Johnson’s office held weekly wine parties in Downing Street, according to the Daily Mirror.

The newspaper writes, among other things, that the employees bought a special wine refrigerator in connection with the gatherings, which is referred to as “Wine Time Friday’s”.

The Prime Minister himself is said to have regularly visited the parties, and he is said to have encouraged the employees to “ease the pressure”, even though for social protection reasons it was strictly forbidden with social events indoors, no named sources inform the newspaper.

The report comes at the end of a week marked by one embarrassing revelation after another about breaches of the coronary restrictions during the shutdowns that Britain has had during the pandemic.

Apologies to the castle

One of the parties was held the night before Prince Philip’s funeral, which is not least remembered because Queen Elizabeth sat all alone on the pew during the ceremony. Only 29 people were present due to the infection restrictions.

On Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office sent a strong apology to the Queen

Whether Johnson and his staff were aware that they were breaking the law during the previous shutdowns is a key question. A report on the case is expected next week.

Wine refrigerator

On Saturday, the Daily Mirror brought a picture of a wine refrigerator that will be carried in the back door to Downing Street in December 2020, and which will have been purchased so that the employees could store wine for the parties.

Around 50 employees have listed the parties in their electronic calendars, according to the newspaper. It says that the gatherings last from 16-19, but according to the sources, they sometimes lasted until midnight with up to 20 participants, who drank wine and beer, and played board games such as Pictionary.

The gatherings are said to have been particularly popular from the autumn of 2020 to the spring of 2021, when the employees were “tired” of the coronary restrictions, according to the newspaper’s sources.

Johnson stopped by

One of them says that Johnson used to stop by for a chat after the end of the working day.

– The idea that he did not know it was drinking is completely silly. If the prime minister says “light on the pressure”, then he is basically saying that it is okay, says the unnamed source.

A spokesman for Downing Street will not comment on the content of the article, but says that the government is waiting for the investigation to establish facts about what kind of collections it was about.