You have to ask: which Tory politician did not hold a Christmas party last year?

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The question is increasingly becoming: which Tory didn’t hold a party last Christmas? The Mirror has revealed another damning picture, showing 24 people crowded together for a party in Conservative HQ on December 14th 2020 while London was under Tier 2 restrictions. (For the avoidance of doubt, this meant that people were banned from socialising with anyone they did not live with or who was not in their support bubble in any indoor setting, and the ‘rule of six’ applied outdoors.) Just hours before the party, the then Health Secretary Matt Hancock had informed the public that the capital would be moving into Tier 3. The Christmas bash was organised by 2021 Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey’s campaign and party goers included Bailey, billionaire Conservative donor Nick Candy and a senior figure on Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign. Bailey has quit his role as chair of the London Assembly’s police and crime committee.

The other main headline of the day is that Johnson has suffered the biggest rebellion of his premiership. By voting with the government unlike 100 Tory rebels, Labour ensured that all new Covid measures to combat the virus over the winter passed. The Commons backed introducing Covid passes for large venues (100 Conservative rebels), mandatory jabs for NHS workers (61 Tories voted against) and extending the requirement on mask wearing (38 Conservative rebels). “We have not played games with these votes. We are not exploiting the divisions in the Conservative Party to inflict defeat on the government for the sake of scoring political points,” Wes Streeting told parliament. “The Tories may be in disarray – but the public can rely on Labour to keep the country safe, to do the right thing, to support these measures today and we trust the British people to do the same.”

It is hardly the biggest news from last night, but nonetheless it is worth noting that Labour did see a rebellion of its own. 22 Labour MPs voted against and two frontbenchers resigned over requiring NHS workers to get fully jabbed by April 1st 2022. Former NHS clinician Rachael Maskell gave up her shadow ministerial post in Labour’s digital, culture, media and sport team, saying the policy would have the “contrary effect to which it is intended” and is “wrong”. Mick Whitley gave up his role as parliamentary private secretary to Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero Ed Miliband. They will be replaced them in the coming days.

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