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Prime Minister Boris Johnson: garden party as a reward for the employees
Photo: POOL / REUTERS
While the first corona wave was still rolling through Great Britain in May 2020 and his country was in a strict lockdown, Prime Minister Boris Johnson apparently saw the time for a short break.
As reported by the Guardian and Independent newspapers, the prime minister took part in a garden party on May 15, 2020 at Johnson's official residence on Downing Street.
According to the reports, around 20 employees were standing together over alcoholic beverages and pizza after a press conference that day.
Johnson himself stayed for about a quarter of an hour.
He said the teams deserved a drink because of their work in the pandemic.
The time of the alleged celebration is spicy for Johnson: The then Minister of Health Matt Hancock had previously called on the population to stay at home if possible, to stick to the rules and not to take any risks.
According to the regulations at the time, according to the Guardian, only two people from different households were allowed to meet outdoors - with a minimum distance of two meters.
Meetings in the garden were, according to the spokesman, "meetings"
A spokesman for Johnson said that employees had regularly used the garden for meetings.
On that day, after a press conference, the Prime Minister had "a few meetings in the garden, including with the then Minister of Health and his team."
Johnson returned to his residence shortly after 7 p.m.
Johnson is already under pressure for allegedly breaking corona rules at a Christmas party last year.
In the course of the affair, his spokeswoman had recently resigned.
The UK is currently seeing a rapidly increasing number of cases, and the Omikron variant of the coronavirus is already widespread.
On Wednesday, Johnson only got a tightening of the corona measures with the support of the opposition from the House of Commons, around 100 MPs from his own Tory party refused to support him.
fek / dpa