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Downing Street Christmas party claims: Playing by the rules?

EPA British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a speech to business leaders at a Christmas market outside 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, 30 November 2021EPA
Boris Johnson pictured at a Christmas market at Downing Street earlier this week

A week is a long time in politics.

If that old saying is correct, a year represents decades, centuries even.

But claims on Wednesday about what happened in Downing Street 12 months ago do seem relevant today, and may not just be consigned to the past.

The Mirror newspaper splashed claims that there'd been 'boozy parties' in No 10 this time last year on more than one occasion.

The suggestions weren't made on the record, but were solid enough for not one, but two opposition leaders to take them on.

And despite what his team had told journalists early on Wednesday morning, Boris Johnson himself, when put under pressure on the issue in the Commons, didn't deny the gatherings had taken place, saying only that the Covid rules at the time had been followed.

Later, a source who had attended the alleged gatherings on 18 December in No 10 told us there'd been "several dozen" people in attendance, with food, drink and even party games on offer, with the event, however it was described, going on past midnight.

At the time, reasonable interactions were acceptable under the rules in the work place. But socialising was clearly off limits.

It's even said that on the night the mood was subdued because staff were discussing the possible impact of what was then known as the new "Kent variant".

It was only the next day, the 19 December, that Boris Johnson tightened Covid rules still further, "cancelling Christmas".

Watch: Keir Starmer asks if No 10 held a Christmas party while the rest of the country was in lockdown

The revelations, continued in Thursday's papers, can't just be shrugged off, for two reasons.

First, what happened gives yet more ammunition to the opposition parties to make one of their most charged claims - that the prime minister and his team (even though he was not said to be at this gathering) set the rules for the country, but don't pay much attention to convention themselves.

And second, the doubts about No 10's commitment have emerged during a period of awkward limbo.

Downing Street and the rest of us are waiting to find out more about the winter 2021 new variant, hoping fervently that there is no need for a drastic step backwards, a reintroduction of strict limits on our lives, to protect against the spread of the virus.

Reminders of the dramatic reversal of government policy 12 months ago don't do much to assuage that fear.