Several hilarious reactions have been shared after Boris Johnson finally admitted he attended a ‘bring your own booze’ Downing Street party during the first Covid lockdown, but suggested he thought it was a ‘work event’.
After 25 minutes, as it steadily occurred to him that people around him were sharing bottles of booze and not PowerPoint slides, he went back to his office.
But people on Twitter weren’t going to let this go without sharing some amusing thoughts.
Best six reactions to Johnson admitting he attended party in lockdown
Comedian Richard Osman said he will “need a couple of stiff workplace events to get over” the prime minister’s revelations.
And Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard said anyone who has ever been to one of his parties is “free to disagree”, but “however bad they have been”, he hopes “no one has actually left one thinking they’d been at work”.
Meanwhile, writer Michael Spicer joked he “confused a drinks menu for a spreadsheet” and “a seventh mojito for a pen”.
“Says a lot about Downing Street that piss ups are indistinguishable from work meetings,” writer James Felton said.
And journalist Gary Younge added: “Look, we’ve all been there.
“Show up for a meeting at work, having been asked to bring booze, only to find hundreds of people there getting pissed up, just to figure out, 25 minutes later, that you’re actually at a party in your own garden.”
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Boris Johnson’s apology
The reactions come after the prime minister apologised for attending the “bring your own booze” gathering in the garden of No 10 during England’s first lockdown.
The Prime Minister acknowledged the public “rage” over the incident but insisted he thought it could have been technically within the rules.
Johnson told MPs that he attended the May 20 2020 gathering for around 25 minutes to “thank groups of staff”.
“I believed implicitly that this was a work event,” he said.
But “with hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside, I should have found some other way to thank them, and I should have recognised that – even if it could have been said technically to fall within the guidance – there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way.”
Johnson acknowledged that included “people who have suffered terribly, people who were forbidden for meeting loved ones at all inside or outside” adding: “To them and to this House, I offer my heartfelt apologies.”
Johnson’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds invited colleagues to “socially distanced drinks” on May 20, 2020 to “make the most of the lovely weather” – urging them to “bring your own booze”.
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