Covid rules 'broken daily'

CORONAVIRUS rules were broken on a daily basis at the heart of government, with hundreds of civil servants and potentially ministers at risk of being fined, a former top official said.

Helen MacNamara, who was deputy cabinet secretary during the pandemic, said she profoundly regretted the lockdown-busting gatherings that took place in No.10 and the Cabinet Office.

She said the events “should never have happened” and “we should have been following rules”.

Ms MacNamara, who was in charge of propriety and ethics, insisted: “I definitely wasn’t partying in Number 10, I was either at work or at home”, even though she was one of the people issued with fines over illegal gatherings.

At a leaving do for a No.10 official on June 18, 2020 – when social gatherings of two or more people indoors were banned – she attended for part of the evening and provided a karaoke machine.

She said there should have been an admission that rules were broken – something Boris Johnson repeatedly denied.