London’s Metropolitan Police said that they are “considering” launching another investigation into the so-called “Partygate” scandals following the publication of a video purporting to show staff at Conservative Campaign Headquarters partying and bragging about violating the lockdown restrictions their government imposed upon the public.
Following the publication of a video showing staffers in Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) dancing and drinking in what appears to have been a blatant violation of the draconian lockdown measures imposed by the Conservative government during the Chinese coronavirus crisis, which at the time prohibited indoor socialising.
The staffers even seemed to acknowledge that they were aware that the party violated the lockdown rules at the time, with one staffer saying: “Are you filming this? As long as we don’t stream that we’re, like, bending the rules,” while laughing behind the camera.
Two people at the party dance in front of a sign demanding that those inside the room abide by social distancing measures.
It is not the first time this party has been publicised, with left-leaning newspaper The Sunday Mirror — also behind the latest video leak — having published still images of the same event back in 2021. Nevertheless, it underlines political elites in London — and indeed elsewhere such as in the United States — having a double standard for themselves and the public in terms of violating lockdowns.
Previously, both former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have been fined by police for breaking the often convoluted and overly stringent lockdown rules they championed for and imposed upon the public. The scandal played a major role in toppling Johnson’s government and many seem hopeful that it could be the end of Sunak’s as well.
Violations of lockdowns, however, were by no means limited to the two prime ministers, with even the architect of lockdowns, disgraced Imperial College London Professor Neil Ferguson also failing to live up to his own authoritarian measures to have an affair with a married woman.
On Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said that they were aware “aware of the footage and are considering” an investigation into the matter.
Responding to the latest leaked footage, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who was an ardent supporter of lockdowns despite his earlier professed libertarian leanings, told Sky News that the behaviour displayed at CCHQ was “indefensible”.
“The fact that this was happening at the height of the pandemic when the virus was spreading and people were observing significant rules in order to make sure they protected others,” Mr Gove said.
“The fact that this party went ahead is indefensible,” he continued. “The people who were there I’m sure feel contrite, I certainly hope they do.”
While much of the outrage expressed by the legacy press in Britain over the footage has focussed on the hypocrisy of the Tories failing to live up to their own rules, others have noted that the real scandal was that the lockdowns were imposed upon the public at all, with a recent study claiming that the impact on public health was minimal in comparison to the detrimental effects on the economy, society, and the mental wellbeing of the public, particularly children.
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