Boris Johnson’s sister, Rachel, has moved to defend her brother insisting the Prime Minister was always “completely compliant” with lockdown rules amid partygate allegations as claims of another lockdown breach in No 10 surfaced.
The leaving do claim is the latest in a long line of allegations about rule breaking in Downing Street, with Ms Gray looking into a litany of possible events, including a “bring your own booze” garden party during the first coronavirus lockdown that Mr Johnson has admitted he attended – although he insists he understood it to be a “work event”.
Mr Johnson’s sister, journalist and LBC presenter Rachel Johnson, told her listeners on Sunday that the Prime Minister always followed Covid rules whenever they met under restrictions.
Rachel Johnson defends her brother amid Covid rule breaking allegations.
Speaking to her LBC listeners on Sunday, Rachel Johnson said: “I didn’t see much of the Prime Minister and his family during lockdown, but the times I did see him he was completely compliant.
“He dotted every i and crossed every t, if it was rule of six, there were six and what I didn’t see is all the things that you have been reading about.
“For example, his birthday, it was me, my three brothers, Carrie and Wilf.”
She added: “I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that he has never once turned to me or any member of my family and said ‘I tell you what, let’s have an office party’.
“I’m just telling you what I saw over lockdown and what I know of my brother’s character.”
Referring to the May 20 2020 BYOB event, she said: “To my mind, if he did go out into the garden, and he has told us he did, for him that would have been work.”
'If my brother went into the garden then, for him, that would've been work.'
— LBC (@LBC) January 16, 2022
Rachel Johnson breaks her silence on the Downing Street parties.@RachelSJohnson pic.twitter.com/LZcqAX8P1H
Boris Johnson plans Tory overhaul
In a bid to survive the partygate storm, reports have suggested Mr Johnson could overhaul his top team, with the likes of his principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, who sent an email inviting staff to enjoy the good weather in the No 10 garden in May 2020, being shown the door as part of a move said to have been dubbed “Operation: Save Big Dog”.
The Times said a bid to save Mr Johnson’s premiership would include an announcement putting the military in charge of preventing small boats from crossing the Channel, as the Prime Minister looks to push “populist” policies.
A change being considered could, according to the newspaper, include processing asylum seekers in Ghana and Rwanda, although the Home Office would not be drawn on such suggestions.
Other touted policy announcements include attempts to reduce the NHS backlog and freeze the BBC licence fee for two years, with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries hinting that the current model for funding the public broadcaster could be scrapped altogether.
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