Allegra Stratton giving her tearful statement on Wednesday
(Picture: BBC News)Number 10 advisor Allegra Stratton gave a tearful resignation statement after she was seen in a video making a joke about a lockdown Christmas party - and people on Twitter are divided.
“I tried to do right by you all, to behave with civility and decency and act to the high standards you expect of Number 10,” Allegra said.
“I understand the anger and frustration that people feel; to all of you who lost loved ones, who endured intolerable loneliness and who struggled with your businesses - I am truly sorry,” she continued before adding that she was offering her resignation to prime minister Boris Johnson.
"I will regret those remarks for the rest of my days"
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) December 8, 2021
Allegra Stratton gives a tearful statement as she resigns as government adviser, after she was seen in video joking about lockdown Christmas party at No 10https://t.co/xr1lLgIXwI pic.twitter.com/Idqbe5vgtO
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Despite this, some people on Twitter believe that Stratton was being made a scapegoat, and wondered why Johnson didn’t resign instead.
Not nice comments from Allegra Stratton of course, doesn’t take away being part of it but sure I’ve said things in rehearsals that I wouldn’t say live on air. Seems all very scapegoat. We shouldn’t be focusing on her tbf. She was the mouthpiece not the decision maker
— R Y L A N (@Rylan) December 8, 2021
She has been made a scapegoat. She’s been targeted for a comment in a training video but those responsible for the party are getting away with it!!
— Rocky Boxer Junior (@boxer_junior) December 8, 2021
It should’ve been Boris Johnson making this statement. Demand it. https://t.co/hQ1RK7vy2m
— George Aylett (@GeorgeAylett) December 8, 2021
The sacrificial goat. Not enough. More meat. We want the one with the floppy hair. https://t.co/z92oGqmKiM
— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) December 8, 2021
I think that @AllegraCOP26 is essentially a decent person who may have been conned out of a good career into defending the indefensible Boris Johnson. She was brave and honest today, totally unlike the Prime Minister who should take responsibility and resign #downingstreetparty https://t.co/44WKzDROfl
— Chris Rennard 🔶💙 (@LordRennard) December 8, 2021
I said this when May ditched Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill and repeat it now as Dominic Cummings spills the beans and Allegra Stratton appears in tears on her own doorstep: *focus on the Prime Minister, not the advisers.* https://t.co/9EgO42LvRE
— Jeremy Cliffe (@JeremyCliffe) December 8, 2021
I'm as angry about that video as everyone else but why is Allegra Stratton being made the scapegoat for the No10 party? Did she organise it? Did she lie about it? No. Others did. Surely it is THOSE heads that should roll. https://t.co/iFHqryD2h2
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) December 8, 2021
Don’t let her be the fall woman for this, hold them accountable https://t.co/O53VsDaC8Q
— Iris✨ (@pilenile) December 8, 2021
The way Tories sacrifice their own to survive is actually funny. https://t.co/bcIkHixmSm
— Lateef (@LateefSaka) December 8, 2021
Allegra Stratton is not the problem.
— Simon McCoy (@SimonMcCoyTV) December 8, 2021
Whilst utterly foreseeable - this resignation solves nothing. https://t.co/1GyHh6tmAG
Others didn’t seem to believe Stratton’s apology, with some saying her sorrow was an example of crocodile tears:
If she actually cared she'd have stated there was a Christmas Party, she was sorry for attending it, name others who attended it and help the @metpoliceuk with their enquiries. Otherwise it's crocodile tears and self pity at getting found out.
— Laurie Calverley (@Birax) December 8, 2021
Crocodile tears while you cry me a river! Allegra Stratton the now former Downing Street Press Secretary delivers her I can’t believe I got caught performance . The mockery in that leaked video is unforgivable! pic.twitter.com/e5Y0f2GIpL
— Gillian McKeith (@GillianMcKeith) December 8, 2021
She laughed while joking about a pandemic that’s killed people? She’s crying because she was caught, not because she cares
— Hannah (@hxnnahprivv) December 8, 2021
Shanene Thorpe, the young working woman Allegra Stratton humiliated, belittled, and misrepresented as being unemployed during a Newsnight interview, sends her regards. pic.twitter.com/YDELPiYmP7
— Cromwell (@Cromwell606) December 8, 2021
Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.
— Concerned Citizen (@shinyandnew70) December 8, 2021
Anyway, that's the starters done, onto the main course, please.
Shes earning millions laughing and joking with journalists about having parties while people are saying goodbye to dieing family members on ipads or can't say goodbye at all, fully deserved
— Briony (@briony_brg) December 8, 2021
Ok but *why* will you regret them? Will you regret what you said, or what it cost you? https://t.co/HSdSy9yc2x
— keewa (@keewa) December 8, 2021
She regrets. She’s sorry. Yes. That she got caught. Nothing more. https://t.co/o5lNi08JhX
— Elleneff (@Elleneff) December 8, 2021
half the speech is bragging about her achievements. how out of touch are they?
— Anthony Shawcross (@anthonyfdshaw) December 8, 2021
nobody gives a shit. https://t.co/EIpi5x9HUB
The only reason this yin is greetin is because she was caught.
— Don Guillerme (Boswell)🇧🇷🏴 (@William07491650) December 8, 2021
Bottom line, she laughed while people were dying. She laughed at everybody following the rules.
Sympathy; zero. https://t.co/5TEcDBATJC
Footage had emerged of Stratton, who was the press secretary at the time, joking with fellow Downing Street staff about a Christmas party. This was just days after Number 10’s alleged festive party in December 2020.
Johnson has apologised for the incident and has requested an investigation into the claims. He also told MPs he was “furious” about the video appearing to show aides laughing.
Johnson had repeatedly insisted that the rules in Downing Street were followed since the claims first emerged. But at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, he said he based that stance on the assurance from junior staff.
