The row over the Downing Street ‘party’ has claimed its first victim. On Wednesday Allegra Stratton announced that she was resigning from government. Her decision followed the leaked footage of a practice press briefing in which Stratton — then spokeswoman for the Prime Minister — appeared to joke about a lockdown breaching No. 10 party four days after is alleged to have taken place.
Addressing reporters outside her home, Stratton — who most recently has been working on the COP26 summit — said she was deeply sorry for her comments:
My remarks seemed to make light of the rules, rules that people were doing everything to obey. That was never my intention. I will regret those remarks for the rest of my days and I offer my profound apologies to all of you at home for them. To all of you who lost loved ones, who endured intolerable loneliness and who struggled with your businesses — I am truly sorry and this afternoon I have offered my resignation to Prime Minister.
Few MPs believe that she is the main issue when it comes to so-called partygate
With Johnson announcing a formal investigation into the party (and the police potentially investigating), there could be more staff exiting the building.
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