It’s the latest twist in the ongoing Partygate saga (Picture: Getty Images)
Conservative officials were filmed dancing, drinking and mocking lockdown laws at a Christmas bash during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a video obtained by the Daily Mirror, one reveller can be heard saying it’s okay to film ‘as long as we don’t stream that we’re, like, bending the rules’.
The jamboree, held at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters in London on December 14 2020 amid Tier 2 restrictions, saw two dozen reportedly attend.
The guest list included two people named on Boris Johnson’s already controversial honours list.
They include Shaun Bailey, the failed London mayoral candidate who has since been handed a peerage, and Tory mayoral campaign manager Ben Ballet.
One couple can be seen in the 45-second footage swaying and twirling along to Fairytale Of New York, at one point knocking into a table rammed with party food and alcohol.
‘Are you filming this?’ a party-goer off-screen asks, as people around them drink and stand close to one another all in front of a sign calling for social distancing.
‘It’s for party, erm, use,’ another says. ‘Instagram Live!’
The first person with a laugh adds: ‘As long as we don’t stream that we’re, like, bending the rules.’
Per The Mirror, nine people can be seen close together in the video at a time when London was under Tier 2 restrictions.
This meant people were banned from socialising indoors, with the only exception being members of their household or support bubble.
Londoner’s options when it came to socialising were limited, with only a maximum of six people able to gather in private gardens or pubs gardens.
One party-goer was filmed dancing while wearing the official Parliament Christmas jumper (Picture: Daily Mirror)
They boogied to Fairytale Of New York (Picture: Daily Mirror)
The knees-up, held just a five-minute walk away from Parliament, was already the centre of controversy when a photograph from the bash emerged as part of a Metropolitan Police probe.
The widely-publicised photo showed Bailey and two dozen or so party staffers and aides raising glasses of wine with a buffet table next to them.
The force investigated the event last year and issued no fines, citing not enough evidence to ‘disprove the version of events provided by attendees’.
With no police action taken, this all but cleared the path for Bailey to become a peer, one among a long list of Johnson allies set to join the unelected House of Lords.
The Conservative Party previously said four people seconded to Bailey’s campaign were disciplined.
To Labour deputy Angela Rayner, the video footage of the get-together was a ‘sickening insult’ to a country still reeling from the years-long pandemic.
The apparent Christmas party for former mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey‘s campaign was held on December 14 2020 (Picture: Daily Mirror)
‘Revellers at this lockdown Tory booze up openly mocked the rules the British people followed, she said.
‘The Tories think it’s one rule for them and one rule for everyone else.
‘Instead of forcing them to face the consequences, Rishi Sunak has caved into Boris Johnson’s demands and chosen to reward them with honours.
‘This prime minister is failing to deliver the integrity he promised and showing he’s too weak to turn the page on 13 years of Tory scandal.’
Number 10, the Conservative Party and the Met Police have been contacted for comment.
One party-goer said it’s okay to film ‘as long as we don’t stream that we’re bending the rules’.Â
