A comedian has brilliantly parodied the government’s response to allegations Boris Johnson attended a rule-breaking party during lockdown.
Using the original questions a Sky News reporter asked the somewhat evasive prime minister about the party, Rosie Holt posed as an MP who “doesn’t know whether she attended” the drinks event in a sketch shared on Twitter.
Pretending to respond to a question about whether she attended the now-notorious party, Holt said: “Well all that, as you know, is subject to an investigation with Sue Gray so until that report is completed, your guess is as good as mine.
MP doesn’t know whether she attended Downing St Party pic.twitter.com/Cb0H3abfqq
— Rosie Holt (@RosieisaHolt) January 11, 2022
“I don’t know whether I attended the party. - it’s the age-old question: If a tree falls in a forest, but no-one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?
″If there was a party in lockdown when we told everyone they couldn’t even attend funerals, but no-one knew about it, was there a party?
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“And Sue Gray is tasked with answering this philosophical question.
“You know, it’s very hard because hypothetically, I could think, “Oh, back in May 2020, I was there with my Rose that I’d got on the way [...] with my sausage roll, looking at 40-50 people thinking, ‘ah is this wrong?’
“Well I’m not going to know that until people find out about it and I’m being made to explain myself about it. Hypothetically.”
Holt’s video parodies an interview Johnson has on Monday in which he dodged questions about his involvement in the party as it was revealed that Boris Johnson’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds sent an email inviting more than 100 employees to a drinks party at a time in which people could only meet one on one outside.
MPs including Ed Miliband have since accused the PM of “hiding behind” the inquiry which is being conducted by senior civil servant Sue Gray and he was criticised for not attending parliament yesterday to answer deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner’s urgent question about the matter.
Huh wonder why he can’t just say “no” pic.twitter.com/2CWs3IVfC0
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) January 11, 2022
Responding to another question a journalist had asked Johnson in her viral parody, Holt added: ”Until the investigation with Sue Gray has been completed, I won’t know if I’ve been interviewed by Sue Gray...so....”
The video has racked up over three million views at the time of writing and people including Gary Lineker thought it was brilliant:
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@GaryLineker) January 11, 2022
Though unfortunately, her style was too close to the bone for some people who fell for it and thought Holt was actually an MP - including one of UKIP’s many former leaders, Henry Bolton:
Oh dear. I’ve frequently bemoaned the quality of our parliamentarians but this interview surprises even me. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear… https://t.co/PM3S6yTIS1
— Henry Bolton OBE 🇬🇧 (@_HenryBolton) January 11, 2022
I have a new favourite genre of tweet. pic.twitter.com/JWMFkKVfIN
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) January 12, 2022
Fish in a barrel. pic.twitter.com/SIEPBtHkXK
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) January 12, 2022
Whether that says more about Holt’s comedy prowess or the quality of our politicians is something you can decide.
