Panorama shows yet more evidence of a Downing Street specific culture of drinking and rule breaking

The BBC’s Panorama programme has reported yet further evidence of drinking and rule-breaking in Downing Street during lockdown.

 

The programme has testimony from workers in Downing Street going into detail about the huge number of parties that took place, and saying that so much drinking  too place that when they came to work in the morning the bins were full of bottles. This all happened during COVID lockdown. 

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, responded:

“These revelations are yet further evidence of a Downing Street-specific culture of drinking and rule breaking led from the very top.

“The constant stream of stories will be doubly insulting to civil servants under constant attack from ministers who accuse them of being lazy and who will be subjecting them to a huge real-terms pay cut this year. These same civil servants who did not indulge in this kind of behaviour and went above and beyond to keep the country running during the pandemic.

“There is a specific issue as well as to how this affects junior staff in No10. If you are invited to attend events by your senior boss and if the PM is in attendance or you believe he may be you are going to feel compelled to attend, and believe that it is legitimate to attend.

“The PM and those around him need to take responsibility for the impossible position they put staff in.”