LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was embroiled Tuesday in another scandal over his government’s alleged lockdown breaches as police said they were investigating a Downing Street gathering attended by dozens of top officials.
In the latest in a string of such allegations, Johnson and others allegedly held a drinks gathering in the garden of his official residence in May 2020 when any in-person socialising was outlawed.
An email leaked late Monday indicated that Martin Reynolds, a senior civil servant, invited more than 100 Downing Street colleagues to “bring your own booze” to the event, which Johnson and his wife Carrie allegedly attended.
The potentially highly damaging revelations follow a series of similar accusations which emerged last month about Downing Street parties held during later lockdowns in the run-up to Christmas in 2020.
They prompted Johnson to appoint another senior civil servant, Sue Gray, to investigate the allegations, and she is now expected to expand her probe to cover the new claims.
Meanwhile in a statement released late Monday, London police said they were also making enquiries over potential breaches of the lockdown laws in relation to the May gathering.
“The Metropolitan Police Service is aware of widespread reporting relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at Downing Street on May 20 2020 and is in contact with the Cabinet Office,” the force said.
Johnson has previously denied knowledge that any rules were broken in Downing Street during the pandemic, as he faced weeks of excoriating headlines over the previous allegations before Christmas.
But the latest accusations appear to directly contradict those claims.
In the May 2020 email sent by Reynolds, he wrote: “After what has been an incredibly busy period it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No10 garden this evening.”
Britain at the time was in the throes of its first lockdown, and outdoor social gatherings of any kind were banned.
ITV News, which obtained the email, said around 40 staff ended up gathering in the garden that evening, eating picnic food and drinking.
BBC News, which followed up, said it had contemporaneous emails from some Downing Staff that questioned the wisdom of the invitation.
“It’s right that Sue Gray is looking into this matter independently,” Health minister Ed Argar told Sky News on Tuesday during a round of broadcast interviews.
“I’m not going to make comments that would prejudge or get in the way of that.”
Johnson had hoped to start the new year with a reset of his embattled government, leaving behind the so-called “partygate” scandals that ratcheted up the pressure on his position, after a series of other claims of sleaze.
But many of Tuesday’s newspapers, including those which normally back Johnson and his Conservative party, again splashed the latest revelations over their front pages.
“Enough Boris! You must end ‘partygate’ farce now” implored the typically supportive Daily Express.
UK’s Johnson faces fresh scandal over lockdown party breach
https://arab.news/mrvz5
UK’s Johnson faces fresh scandal over lockdown party breach
Afghanistan launches retaliatory attacks on Pakistan as tensions escalate
- At least 66 Afghans have been killed by Pakistan’s strikes, Afghan authorities say
- Afghanistan has called for dialogue while Pakistan ruled out any talks with Kabul
KABUL: Afghanistan has launched new attacks on Pakistan’s military bases, the Afghan defense ministry said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes escalated between the neighbors after months of tension.
The latest flare-up erupted after Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered a retaliatory offensive from Afghanistan along the border on Thursday.
The two countries have engaged in tit-for-tat attacks since, marking the most serious development in ongoing tensions between the two countries, which agreed to a ceasefire last October following a week of deadly clashes.
Afghanistan’s Air Force has “once again launched airstrikes on Pakistani military bases” in Miranshah and Spinwam, the Afghan Ministry of National Defense said on X on Saturday, claiming that the strikes caused “severe damage and heavy casualties.”
“These successful operations were conducted in response to repeated aerial aggressions by the Pakistani military regime,” the ministry said.
Afghan forces also launched similar strikes against military targets in Islamabad and Abbottabad on Friday, which the ministry said was in retaliation of aerial attacks by Pakistani forces in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia.
At least 66 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Pakistani strikes, with another 59 others wounded, according to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Afghan government.
Pakistan has maintained that it is targeting only military targets to avoid any civilian casualties, in compliance with international law.
Pakistani officials said its forces have killed more than 330 Afghan fighters and targeted 37 military locations across Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesperson for the Afghan government, earlier called for talks to resolve the crisis.
“We have always emphasized peaceful resolution, and now too we want the issue to be resolved through dialogue,” he said on Friday.
However, Pakistan has ruled out any talks with Kabul.
“There won’t be any talks, there is nothing to talk about. There’s no negotiation. Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end,” Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistan’s prime minister, said on Friday.
Pakistan is accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and allowing them to stage cross-border attacks — a charge Afghanistan denies, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
As international calls for mediation grow amid the escalating hostility, Afghans across the country are growing fearful of the violence.
“Everyone heard the jets. This is the first time since the withdrawal of US invaders that we have heard such a horrible noise and news of damage. It is not good for us,” said Kandahar resident Shahid Zamari.
“We had forgotten the US war and its bad impact on us, on our families, on our children. And now this has come upon us again — by Pakistan, and in the holy month of Ramadan.”
When the strikes hit Kabul at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Saleema Wardak moved quickly to wake up her six children and escape outside, assuming the strong jolt that shook her house was an earthquake.
“While standing in the yard, my husband told me it was not an earthquake but an explosion. Then we heard the crazy sounds of planes, and shooting from the mountains against the planes,” she told Arab News.
“We hid inside, worried another bomb would fall on us. People say Pakistan is targeting civilians on purpose to increase pressure on the Taliban. So we hid … The world is unjust … They do not value the blood of the poor.”
For Sabawoon, a 23-year-old student from eastern Kunar province’s Asadabad city, the coming days are filled with uncertainties.
“What to do? Where to go? We have to stay and find our way to survive,” he told Arab News. “God willing, nothing bad will happen to us. If they are bombing us, what can we do?”
