This week, as former Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives evidence in the COVID enquiry, the British public are taking the time to remind themselves what exactly Boris Johnson did wrong during the pandemic.
For many in particular, there's a stand-out moment that epitomised Boris Johnson's problematic leadership.
We're talking back in December 2021 - just days after we had barely recovered from news that the government had had the audacity to host a Conservatives' Christmas party in the throws of lockdown - when photos surfaced of Boris Johnson enjoying wine and cheese in the sunshine with his wife Carrie Johnson and a swarm of colleagues in the Number 10 garden.
The government had previously denied that there was a social gathering on Friday 15 May, but following the release of this evidence, Boris Johnson and his cronies changed tack to claim the wine-fuelled event was actually a work meeting… Seems likely.
Whilst the then-PM enjoyed the balmy sunshine with a glass of vino alongside his wife and others, the rest of the country had social mixing restricted to a two metre-distanced catch-up with only one other person from a different household. Children couldn’t hug their grandparents, funerals were on Zoom.
In workplaces, in-person meetings were told to take place only if ‘absolutely necessary’ with social distancing measures carefully observed. What they definitely didn’t advise was to get the office crew in your garden, kick back, and relax with a bottle of wine.
After the seemingly incriminating photo emerged, gastroenterologist Dr Ajay M Verma highlighted the heart-breaking contrast between his day in the hospital and Boris Johnson’s on Twitter writing, ‘On Friday 15th May 2020 at 1pm we held a minute’s silence on our ward (and throughout our hospital in memory of those who died from Covid,’ he wrote. ‘Little did we know that the PM & friends were enjoying a garden party that same afternoon.’
To many it will feel horrifying to see Dr Ajay’s photo and the one of Boris Johnson's 'outdoor meeting' side by side. While nurses and doctors bowed their heads soberly as they stared at the floor and remembered their colleagues and patients who had passed away, the people in charge of keeping the nation safe were apparently laughing in the sunshine.
Another mourning Twitter user Stephen Laughton shared a similar Tweet.
‘On the left is the last photo I have of my mum alive in May 2020,' he wrote. 'Living alone with serious illness, she faced the pandemic with stoicism. We went for a walk around her local park. When she suggested sitting 2m apart in her garden, I said: better not, it’s against the rules.’
These Tweets quickly sparked a devastating trend of grieving individuals and medical professionals comparing what they were doing in May 2020, whilst Boris Johnson was mingling with his colleagues.
A lung oncology cancer nurse shared a photo of her face dented by her PPE and added: 'This was me in May 2020 - exhausted, emotionally and physically spent. I don’t have words for how I feel looking at Boris and his cheese and wine party that was going on at the same time.'
A second hospital worker shared a photo of themselves in full PPE and explained how they were forced to sleep in a garage to prevent putting their family at risk of Covid. 'This was me in May 2020, in the endless cycle of door-car-work-car-door, "don't touch daddy 'till I changed and showered"’ he explained. 'After possible contamination I slept in my garage to protect my family.'
As a result, many have argued that Boris Johnson and his colleagues broke the rules, despite Dominic Raab’s claims otherwise.
Rebecca Langton, Labour councillor for Bilborough in Nottingham, shared a photo of her team’s Zoom call after a ‘gruelling’ day.
She wrote, 'Picture May 2020. This is what socialising after a gruelling day looked like for those of us who followed the rules last May. We all had hard days in lockdown, none more so than the key workers we clapped for, but cheese and wine for 17 was NOT allowed.'
Dominic Raab has claimed that Boris Johnson’s garden gathering can’t be classified as a party ‘because Carrie popped down and spent a little bit of time there with her husband’ and ‘they’re all in suits, predominantly in formal attire.’
But the reality is that the seemingly social occasion couldn’t be further from what the rest of Britain were doing in Spring 2020.
One mother, Laura Smith, shared a photo of her son seeing his grandad for the first time in months writing, ‘My son finally able to see my dad after months of lockdown. But 2m apart, and no cuddles. We thought we were doing the right thing.’
Another individual, Kevin Pryce, shared how he was ‘lucky’ to be able to visit his father-in-law in a care home through a window because he happened to have a ground floor room.
‘This is my May 2020, visiting my father in law through the window,’ he remembered. ‘We were the lucky ones to have a ground floor room.'
Nazir Afzal echoed the thoughts of everyone in the UK writing, 'Here’s Boris Johnson having a meeting (?) in May 2020 whilst the rest of us were complying with covid rules which included not being able to attend my own brother's funeral because only 6 of us could & we only had 29 mins to bury him before the next family came'.
Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour party, called the photograph of Boris Johnson's social set-up ‘a slap in the face of the British public’.
She told The Mirror, ‘The Prime Minister consistently shows us he has no regard for the rules he puts in place for the rest of us.
‘Alleged drinking and partying late into the evening when the rest of use were only recently getting one daily walk. Boris Johnson’s government is run with the attitude that is is one rule for them, and another for everyone else. He is totally unfit to lead our country.’