NUMBER 10 has denied that Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie broke strict coronavirus lockdown rules last Christmas to spend the festive period with a friend at Number 10.
Harper’s Magazine claims Nimco Ali, a political campaigner and Home Office adviser, was invited to Downing Street despite London and the south east being placed under tier 4 restrictions amid a surge in cases.
No 10 and Johnson’s spokesman both denied that the couple broke their own rules, but did not deny that Ali joined them at Christmas.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister and Mrs Johnson have followed coronavirus rules at all times. It is totally untrue to suggest otherwise.”
The Prime Minister's official spokesman faced further questions about the incident as he fielded questions from Westminster journalists.
He insisted the "Prime Minister and Mrs Johnson have followed the coronavirus rules at all times".
The spokesman later suggested that the couple, who had a newborn son, had made use of a childcare bubble exemption to invite Ali over.
“The rules made clear you can continue to use a childcare bubble on Christmas itself, including in a Tier 4 area," he said.
Ali told reporters she “did not break any rules”.
Carrie Johnson revealed in July that she was preganant again having suffered a miscarriage at the start of the year.
In a statement on social media, Johnson said the baby was due to arrive “this Christmas”.
The Haper’s Magazine article was written by Lara Prendergast, executive editor of the Spectator, which Johnson used to edit.
London and the south east of England had been placed under strict Covid lockdown just a week before Christmas.
Plans to allow mixing between households were scrapped, with social mixing restricted to just one person in an open public space, unless people lived with them or they were part of their existing support bubble.
However, exemptions were in place for parents with a child under one year old.
Ali, who is godmother to the Johnsons’ son Wilfred, was handed a top role at the Home Office last year.
She was appointed an adviser on tackling violence against women and girls in October, and is said to be earning £350 a day. The post was not advertised.
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