HOLYROOD’S youngest MSP who lost her mum to Covid-19 has said she is “infuriated” by the findings of the damning Sue Gray report into lockdown parties in Downing Street.
Emma Roddick, SNP MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said the behaviour of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other staff attending boozy gatherings at No 10 and Whitehall during the pandemic was “beyond parody”.
In January of last year, the 24-year-old lost her mum to the virus and was unable to see her until her death was imminent. By this point, her mum could not talk.
She was then unable to hug her partner at her funeral. All this while she was preparing to campaign to become an MSP and while parties involving booze, fighting, vomiting and karaoke had been going on in Downing Street.
The 37-page document published on Wednesday detailed several events which Gray concluded “should not have happened” including a party at Downing Street on June 18, 2020, where one individual was so drunk they were sick, while the last member of staff left at 3.13am.
The Prime Minister said in a statement on Wednesday that he took “full responsibility” for the partying, before putting blame on junior staff members.
He said he was “appalled” by the behaviour of staff and said he had no further knowledge of what happened at some events after he left as he was “simply not there”.
Speaking exclusively to The National on Wednesday, Roddick said she was not surprised by what she had read but said she felt infuriated after the sacrifices she made.
She said: “It is beyond parody what has happened. These people genuinely seem to believe they are better than us and they feel they are above the laws they made.
“If my staff got drunk in my office, so much so they were sick, there’s no way I would come out of that good, even if I wasn’t there.
“I am not surprised about what has come out, but it is infuriating.
“I didn’t get to see my mum when she was dying. Only one person was allowed to go in and my sister did. It was hard for her, it was hard for me, but I had to make that sacrifice.
“I was not allowed to hug my partner at her funeral. Meanwhile, there were people who made those rules and did not follow them themselves. They do feel they are above the law.”
Other events investigated in the report included the now infamous No 10 garden party on May 15, 2020 - where Boris Johnson brought “cheese and wine from his flat” - and a “bring your own booze” event on May 20, 2020.
Gray also probed the Prime Minister’s birthday party on June 19, 2020 – for which Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were both fined by police – and several other events where excessive alcohol was consumed.
Green MSP Gillian Mackay also lost her mum in December 2020 after she had suffered a stroke. She then lost her 88-year-old grandpa a few months later.
Only around 20 people were able to attend her mum’s funeral, which happened to be on December 17, the day before a rowdy party in the Downing Street press office was held that included games and an awards ceremony.
Staff were said to have “drank excessively” at the “crowded and noisy” party.
Mackay said: “It just makes me so angry for anyone that has lost a loved one and particularly younger people.
“These people who have lost someone to Covid, these are people that would’ve probably still been here had the circumstances been different, and what they [the Prime Minister and politicians attending the parties] have done just adds to that injustice for them.
“And for someone to diminish their own role in it is shocking. There are people who were fined for less severe misdemeanours than organising a boozy party and then misleading the nation about it.
“It’s honestly incredible, and the fact he [Johnson] can just continue and say the country wants to move on is just shocking. That trauma has been very real for people who have lost someone.
“This behaviour would not be tolerated in any other workplace. They obviously believed they were an exception when they made these laws.”
