Christmas party games with a sad ending

The press here in UK has been full of the story about whether Number 10 Downing Street held a Christmas party last year in contravention of the government's own Covid lockdown rules in force at the time. In other words, no parties, no gatherings of any kind, social distancing etc etc. Whie the rest of the country was playing by the rules - mostly - and staying at home over Christmas without loved ones, officials at Number 10 were making whoopee, drinking mulled wine, eating mince pies, and having a jolly get-together. Scandal, if true. We still don't know for sure whether it actually happened, whether Boris had approved it or whether it's all about nothing much more than a few hasty drinks behind the office cabinets. Boris says he he has been told there was no party and he has stuck to that belief but has asked the cabinet secretary to investigate. But now comes the sad part. Allegra Stratton, then Boris's press spokeswoman and a really nice person, took part in a videoed mock press briefing in which a colleague acting as a journalist asked her a question about the rumours of a Christmas party at Downing Street and she giggled and said she had gone home by then and seemed to treat the question as a laugh. A bit unfortunate but it was only an inside mock-up event which clearly didn't go as planned, professionally, because she smiled a lot and treated the question very lightly.But of couse some nasty person then leaked the video to ITN and it's all over the front pages of every newspaper, and now Allegra Stratton has had to resign. She was in tears when she made a statement. As I said she is a nice lady, an experienced journalist, normally very professional and was terrific as political editor on BBC 2 Newsnight and then national editor with ITN before joining Downing Street. Now her new career is over because of a silly response during what was supposed to be a private event. I feel very sorry for her and hope the person who leaked the video feels guilty as hell for ruining her life.