'It sickens me': Bereaved families react to video of staff joking about party they later denied

Bereaved families who lost loved ones to Covid have expressed anger at a leaked video revealed by ITV News which shows senior Downing Street staff joking about holding a Christmas party days after the event is alleged to have taken place last December.

In the video, Downing Street staff holding a mock press conference quiz the prime minister's then-press secretary, Allegra Stratton.

Staff can be heard laughing and making references to “cheese and wine”, while Ms Stratton remarked there was “definitely no social distancing.”

London was under Tier 3 restrictions at the time, meaning social events including parties were banned.

Watch the full exchange between Ed Oldfield and Allegra Stratton in the mock televised press briefing

Bereaved family members who lost loved ones to coronavirus have reacted with anger and upset to the leaked footage.

On Twitter, Sue Dando said: "My Mum spent last Christmas on her own while my Dad was in hospital with Covid, he didn’t last till New Year.

"She couldn’t say goodbye to him and I Couldn’t hug her at his funeral because of covid rules. All while the government partied."

Elaine Ramsay replied in support of the Tweet.

"I am so sorry for your loss. My Mum went into care in November, due to C19 rules I couldn't 'settle her in'", she wrote.

"I felt like I'd abandoned her. No visits at Xmas, so we both spent it alone. Her last Christmas. She died in April. This partying sickens me to the pit of my stomach."

Another Twitter user replied to Ms Dando's post expressing regret that they had stuck to Covid restrictions while a party allegedly took place in Downing Street.

"I hadn’t seen my parents since Christmas 2019. We decided that I shouldn’t travel up from London last year as we wanted to stick to the rules to keep us all safe", she wrote.

"The next time I saw my lovely Mum was in a hospital bed 2 days before she passed away from COVID. I’m so...angry".

Fran Hall, who lost her husband to coronavirus, shared a message on Twitter which read: "We are governed by liars who are laughing at us."

She was one of many bereaved relatives, NHS staff, volunteers, and members of the public to paint a heart on the National Covid Memorial Wall in London.

The memorial was covered in 150,000 hearts stretching for around half a kilometre, to represent loved ones lost to the virus in the UK.

Louisa Backway, whose father died of prostrate cancer after being unable to spend his last Christmas with his children and grandchildren, told ITV News she and her family are "furious" after watching the video.

'My dad only met his youngest granddaughter once. And to know that there were people who were having cheese and wine and nibbles and laughing about it'

Ms Backway said: "It's a sort of betrayal of people because you are sacrificing so much. "And to know now that I sacrificed the last time that my dad could see his grandchildren, the last time that I could see my dad when he was well and himself, I can't get that time back." She continued: "My dad only met his youngest granddaughter once. And to know that there were people who were having cheese and wine and nibbles and laughing about it, it just beggars belief."

A frontline NHS worker said she is "incandescent" with anger following the revelations.

The medic was working with Covid patients in December 2020, when her mother was admitted to her hospital following a fall, she told the PA agency. She was unable to visit her mother, who caught Covid in the hospital and later died. "To say I’m angry… I’m incandescent. It’s the disrespect, it’s the one rule for us and another rule for them, that’s what’s the worst,” the NHS worker said. "I see Allegra Stratton laughing up there and I feel sick, I feel disrespected, (like) I’ve been taken for a mug. "I can’t put enough words together right now as to how appalling that behaviour is. It should have consequences", she added.

Ameera Juli said her mother in law was unable to see her deaf husband in hospital, due to Covid restrictions in December 2020.

"Past year, my mother in law was constantly denied to be with her late deaf husband/my father in law who was forced to be alone with no communication support whatsoever in hospital for a whole month before he have sadly passed away ALONE", she said on Twitter.

She added: "Along with my sister in law’s father passed away on the exact same date/evening of where Boris and rest of his team seemingly was off their face ‘partying’.

"My sister in law’s/family and many other thousands of family/ friends been denied to see their sick love one".

The group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK described the alleged gathering as the behaviour of people who "think they're above" the general public. The group campaigns for families who have lost loved ones during the pandemic.

In a statement, the group said: "In September Boris Johnson looked bereaved families in the eyes & told them he had done everything he could to save their loved ones.

"There are simply no words to describe how upsetting and shameful it is to then hear Boris Johnson's team laughing about breaking the rules they had made, whilst others followed them and could only say goodbye to their loved ones through a screen".

In response to ITV News' story Downing Street said: "There was no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times."