Johnson's office apologises to Queen Elizabeth for party on eve of funeral | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
June 09, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, JUNE 09, 2025
Johnson's office apologises to Queen Elizabeth for party on eve of funeral

Europe

Reuters
14 January, 2022, 06:40 pm
Last modified: 14 January, 2022, 06:48 pm

Related News

  • 'Hasta la vista, baby,' says UK's Boris Johnson as he exits parliament
  • Five contenders to be next UK PM to face off in TV debate
  • Who might succeed Boris Johnson as Britain's prime minister
  • Who would replace Boris Johnson? Here are his likely successors
  • Nightmare at Downing Street comes to an end

Johnson's office apologises to Queen Elizabeth for party on eve of funeral

Johnson is facing the gravest crisis of his premiership after almost daily revelations about a series of social gatherings during Covid-19 lockdowns, some held when ordinary people could not bid farewell in person to dying relatives

Reuters
14 January, 2022, 06:40 pm
Last modified: 14 January, 2022, 06:48 pm
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street 10 to meet with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, in London, Britain December 16, 2021. Photo :Reuters
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street 10 to meet with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, in London, Britain December 16, 2021. Photo :Reuters

Summary:

  • PM's staff partied on night before Philip's funeral
  • Johnson facing gravest crisis of premiership
  • Staff brought alcohol in suitcase, broke a swing
  • Downing Street apologises

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office apologised to Queen Elizabeth on Friday after it emerged that staff had partied late into the night in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral, at a time when mixing indoors was banned.

Johnson is facing the gravest crisis of his premiership after almost daily revelations about a series of social gatherings during Covid-19 lockdowns, some held when ordinary people could not bid farewell in person to dying relatives.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

After building a political career out of flouting accepted norms, Johnson is now under growing pressure from some of his own lawmakers to quit. Opponents say he is unfit to rule and has misled parliament by denying Covid-19 guidance was breached.

In an extraordinary twist to a saga that has been widely lampooned by comedians and cartoon artists, the Daily Telegraph said drinks parties were held inside Downing Street on 16 April, 2021, the day before Prince Philip's funeral.

"It is deeply regrettable this took place at a time of national mourning and No. 10 (Downing Street) has apologised to the Palace," Johnson's spokesman told reporters.

Johnson was at his Chequers country residence that day and was not invited to any gathering, his spokesman said.

Such was the revelry in Downing Street, the Telegraph said, that staff went to a nearby supermarket to buy a suitcase of alcohol, spilled wine on carpets, and a swing used by the prime minister's young son was broken.

The next day, Queen Elizabeth bade farewell to Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years, following his death aged 99.

Dressed in black and in a white trimmed black face mask, the 95-year-old Elizabeth cut a poignant figure as she sat alone, in strict compliance with coronavirus rules, during the funeral service for Philip at Windsor Castle.

'leave the stage'

Opponents have called for Johnson, 57, to resign, casting him as a charlatan who demanded the British people follow some of the most onerous rules in peacetime history while his own staff partied at the heart of the British state.

A small but growing number in his own Conservative Party have echoed those calls, fearing it will do lasting damage to its electoral prospects.

"Sadly, the Prime Minister's position has become untenable," said Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen, a former Johnson supporter. "The time is right to leave the stage."

Johnson has given a variety of explanations of the parties, ranging from denials that any rules were broken to expressing understanding for the public anger at apparent hypocrisy at the heart of the British state.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, seen as a possible successor, said "real mistakes" were made.

"We need to look at the overall position we're in as a country, the fact that he (Johnson) has delivered Brexit, that we are recovering from Covid... He has apologised."

"I think we now need to move on."

To trigger a leadership challenge, 54 of the 360 Conservative members of parliament must write letters of no confidence to the chairman of the party's "1922 Committee".

The Telegraph said as many as 30 such letters had been submitted.

Johnson faces a tough year ahead: beyond Covid, inflation is soaring, energy bills are spiking, taxation will rise in April and his party faces local elections in May.

One of the April 2021 parties was a leaving event for James Slack, a former director of communications at Downing Street, who on Friday apologised "for the anger and hurt caused".

Slack, now deputy editor of the tabloid Sun newspaper, said in a statement to PA Media that the gathering "should not have happened at the time that it did".

British police said on Thursday they would not investigate gatherings held in Johnson's residence during a coronavirus lockdown unless an internal government inquiry finds evidence of potential criminal offences. read more

Top News / World+Biz

UK PM lockdown party / UK PM Boris Johnson / Downing Street

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus leaves for a four-day visit to the United Kingdom from the Dhaka airport on 9 June 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    CA Yunus leaves for UK; discussion expected on renewable energy investment, laundered money
  • File photo of Shafiqul Alam. Photo: Collected
    Positive message for country if CA meets Tarique, but no decision on meeting yet: Shafiqul tells Somoy
  • Representational image: WHO
    Govt advises against non-essential travel to India amid rising Covid-19 risks

MOST VIEWED

  • On left, Abdullah Hil Rakib, former senior vice president (SVP) of BGMEA and additional managing director of Team Group; on right, Captain Md Saifuzzaman (Guddu), a Boeing 787 Dreamliner pilot for Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Photos: Collected
    Ex-BGMEA SVP Abdullah Hil Rakib, Biman 787 pilot Saifuzzaman drown in boating accident in Canada
  • A photo showing the former president on his return to Dhaka today (9 June). 
Source: Collected
    Former president Abdul Hamid returns to Bangladesh from Thailand
  • File Photo: British MP Tulip Siddiq attends a news conference with Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of jailed British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, in London, Britain October 11, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo
    Tulip requests CA Yunus for a meeting over corruption allegations: Guardian
  • Representational image. Photo: Reuters
    Bangladesh reports 3 more Covid-19 cases
  • Muhammad Yunus (L) and Narendra Modi. Photo: Collected
    Modi sends Eid-ul-Adha greetings, Yunus calls for continued bilateral cooperation
  • Photo: Reuters
    Trump says Musk relationship over, warns of 'serious consequences' if he funds Democrats

Related News

  • 'Hasta la vista, baby,' says UK's Boris Johnson as he exits parliament
  • Five contenders to be next UK PM to face off in TV debate
  • Who might succeed Boris Johnson as Britain's prime minister
  • Who would replace Boris Johnson? Here are his likely successors
  • Nightmare at Downing Street comes to an end

Features

File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

11h | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

2d | Bangladesh
Illustration: TBS

Unbearable weight of the white coat: The mental health crisis in our medical colleges

5d | Panorama
(From left) Sadia Haque, Sylvana Quader Sinha and Tasfia Tasbin. Sketch: TBS

Meet the women driving Bangladesh’s startup revolution

5d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

US and China to meet in London for trade talks

US and China to meet in London for trade talks

23m | TBS World
The forbidden point on Cox's Bazar beach is like a death trap

The forbidden point on Cox's Bazar beach is like a death trap

2h | TBS Today
Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg

Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg

4h | TBS World
Which way will the anti-immigration campaign in Los Angeles turn?

Which way will the anti-immigration campaign in Los Angeles turn?

5h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net