Boris Johnson’s spokesman has apologised on behalf of the No 10 press office for its handling of Partygate.
During press briefings, Downing Street spokespeople repeatedly told journalists that all Covid rules had been followed in Downing Street. But some members of the press office were at events where rules were broken, as detailed in Sue Gray’s report. The prime minister has denied misleading MPs, saying he believed at the time the rules had been followed.
On Thursday, in an unusual move, a Downing Street spokesman apologised to journalists for saying there had been no parties. Asked how he could be trusted, the spokesman said: "There were failures in both what happened and how that was handled subsequently. “The PM has apologised for that and I am happy to apologise for that. There were times when we were limited in what we could say, and times when we didn’t have a full understanding of what took place.”
The spokesman would not say if he himself attended any of the events or was fined. He would also not comment on whether anyone in the press office had offered to resign.
Wine Time Fridays
No 10 has said the press office’s so-called Wine Time Fridays have been banned under new guidelines which state that “excessive” alcohol consumption in the office is not appropriate.
Apology, schmology … smoke and mirrors … fit for mugs and gullibles only …
Well, those sort of apologies are like you get from your kids when they’ve been caught, aren’t they?
The technique is to lie through their teeth until it’s obvious they’ve been caught red-handed, then when they’re out of options, apologise in the hope of escaping punishment
And it’s very obvious this lot are being thrown under the bus and told to apologise to take the blame off Big Dog
I’m certain that we are all pretty pissed off with what happened during lockdown, but there are bigger things happening in the world than interminably navel gazing over whether Boris blew out some candles over a glass of fruit juice in Downing Street one night!
All we need is a sense of perspective, although I do understand that the Boris haters will never be satisfied until his head sits on a spike over some misdemeanour or other…
It’s exactly because we have bigger things to worry about that we need to flush the turd now
These are dangerous troubled times and we can’t afford to put ourselves and our country at risk by keeping a leader who has proven to be a corrupt liar, prepared to lie to Parliament and deceive us when it suits him😡
It’s those who are prepared to overlook what he’s done that need to adjust their sense of perspective. The integrity of our country is more important than saving Big Dog and the Tories
I’ll settle for his head on a spike, but I’d prefer another part of his anatomy
And what he’s done aren’t just “misdemeanours”, they are inexcusable crimes
Exactly 
