A Cabinet minister has defended leaked images of Boris Johnson hosting a Christmas Quiz in Downing Street during lockdown– arguing that it was within the rules.
Nazhim Zahawi, who was vaccines minister at the time of the event, said the gathering could not have been a party because no alcohol was present.
In images reported by the Daily Mirror the prime minister can be seek flanked by colleagues covered in tinsel – but Mr Zahawi claimed the gathering broke no rules because "they work with him".
"What do we see in that picture? We see a prime minister on a virtual quiz night for 10 to 15 minutes, to thank his staff – who by the way had no choice but to come in every single day," Mr Zahawi told Sky News.
"Sitting in his office with the two people who are closest working with him, no alcohol on the table, not drinking – on a zoom call or teams call, virtual call – respecting the lockdown rules.
Recommended Government should stagger return of pupils in January, teaching union says Omicron set to be dominant coronavirus strain in London by Tuesday About 17 million eligible for Covid booster, figures suggest
"Many people would have had similar zoom quiz nights around the country. They are in his office, they work with him."
Asked why the colleagues were dressed in Christmas garb, Mr Zahawi told the BBC: “I don’t think there’s a rule against recognising Christmas with tinsel or a hat.”
Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi defends the government’s Christmas quiz
(BBC )
Social events outside household bubbles were banned under government rules at the time, including with colleagues who might otherwise have been working together.
Official guidance stated: “You must not have a work Christmas lunch or party, where that is a primarily social activity and is not otherwise permitted by the rules in your tier.”
It comes after over a week of anger about a separate party held at Downing Street, which is now the subject of an investigation by the Cabinet Secretary.
Boris Johnson's Conservatives have tanked in the polls ahead of a key by-election test on Thursday, with speculation that rivals in the party could be eyeing his job.
The prime minister's political opponents rounded on the latest revelations. Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: "This slew of rule-breaking revelations leaves Boris Johnson with nowhere left to hide.
"The British public did what they were asked, often at huge personal cost, but over the last year, it seems that Johnson and his cronies flouted rules, laughed about it, and are now desperately trying to cover it up.
"Johnson is destroying public trust at every turn. For every day he remains in No 10, he undermines the national effort to accelerate the booster programme and hold the line against Omicron. Johnson just needs to go."
Labour leader Keir Starmer told the BBC: “I do think that new allegations is very serious. The reason it's serious is because at the time the public was asking people not to see loved ones, and many of them didn't see loved ones. That's why this has created such fury.
UK news in pictures Show all 50
1/50UK news in pictures
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UK news in pictures 26 November 2021 A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London
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UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London
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UK news in pictures 24 November 2021 Migrants are helped ashore from a RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) lifeboat at a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel.
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UK news in pictures 23 November 2021 The coffin of Sir David Amess is carried past politicians, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the requiem mass for the MP at Westminster Cathedral, central London
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UK news in pictures 22 November 2021 The scene in Dragon Rise, Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset where police have launched a murder probe after two people were found dead
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UK news in pictures 20 November 2021 Police officers monitor as climate change activists sit down and block traffic during a protest action in solidarity with activists from the Insulate Britain group who received prison terms for blocking roads, on Lambeth Bridge in central London
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UK news in pictures 18 November 2021 The scene at a recycling centre in Stert, near Devizes in Wiltshire after a large blaze was brought under control. The fire broke out on Wednesday night the fire service has said and local residents were advised to keep windows and doors shut due to large amounts of smoke
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UK news in pictures 17 November 2021 The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England
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UK news in pictures 16 November 2021 ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh
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UK news in pictures 15 November 2021 Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool
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UK news in pictures 14 November 2021 Wreaths by the Cenotaph after the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London
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UK news in pictures 13 November 2021 Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is ending his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Ratcliffe has spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London without food. He began his demonstration on 24 October after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, saying his family was “caught in a dispute between two states”
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UK news in pictures 12 November 2021 Peter Green protesting outside the Cop26 gates during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.
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UK news in pictures 11 November 2021 Seagulls fly around the statue entitled 'Tommy', a first World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale at dawn in Seaham, Britain
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UK news in pictures 9 November 2021 A deer statue silhouetted at Loch Faskally in Pitlochry, Scotland
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UK news in pictures 6 November 2021 Protesters take part in a rally organised by the Cop26 Coalition in Glasgow demanding global climate justice
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UK news in pictures 4 November 2021 A spectacular display of the Northern Lights seen over Derwentwater, near Keswick in the Lake District
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UK news in pictures 3 November 2021 Police and demonstrators at a Extinction Rebellion protest on Buchanan Street, during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow
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UK news in pictures 2 November 2021 A person walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire
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UK news in pictures 1 November 2021 Sir David Attenborough delivers a speech during Cop26 in Glasgow
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UK news in pictures 31 October 2021 Extinction Rebellion activists protest in Edinburgh as the Cop26 conference begins in Glasgow
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UK news in pictures 30 October 2021 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with Mapuche leader and Minga Indigena Lead Coordinator Claflin Lafkenche (right) alongside indigenous delegates at a ceremonial gathering at the Tramway in Glasgow in a symbolic gesture to mark a unified demand for climate justice
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UK news in pictures 29 October 2021 Ocean Rebellion put on a display of puking oil heads ahead of climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow
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UK news in pictures 28 October 2021 A man dressed as Santa Claus outside Selfridges in London as the department store unveils its Christmas windows on Oxford Street
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UK news in pictures 27 October 2021 Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak during a visit to Fourpure Brewery in Bermondsey, London, after the chancellor announced a cut to beer taxes in his budget
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UK news in pictures 26 October 2021 Activist Steve Bray demonstrates with a toilet outside the gates of Downing Street, after MPs voted in Parliament against the Environment Bill, allowing companies to pump raw sewage into UK rivers and seas, in London
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“I remember it was only Wednesday that the prime minister stood up in parliament and said he was furious that he'd just found out there were breaches of the rules.”
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Asked whether the prime minister was breaking the law, Sir Keir said: “It looks as though he was ... it’s very hard to see how that’s compliant with the rules.”
But Sir Keir declined to call for Mr Johnson to resign. Pressed on whether the PM should go, he said: “We need to look at the allegations. It’s only one of the allegations and establish the facts.”