“Actually, we had a wine party every week”… UK prime minister to retire from politics

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was on the brink of resignation due to a controversy over violating quarantine regulations for ‘innocent relationship (if I did it, I had an affair if it was romance)’, had a wine party every Friday.

On the 14th (local time), British The Mirror, citing multiple sources, said that Prime Minister Johnson had a wine party every Friday with his aides to ‘relieve stress’. In an exclusive report, he even bought a wine cellar at a cost of £142 (about 230,000 won) to store the wine.

According to reports, Friday’s wine party is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. every week and is automatically registered on the electronic calendar of about 50 employees of the Prime Minister’s Office. The Mirror pointed out that “(Friday’s party) is a long-standing tradition for Downing Street employees to wrap up the week,” but “the event continued even after quarantine regulations were introduced to limit the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Friday’s wine party was popular from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021, when quarantine regulations were tightened,” the source said.

“Prime Minister Johnson would stop by to chat while the staff drank. I found out about this, and I even encouraged (drinking).”

Another source said, “It is absurd that the prime minister didn’t know there was alcohol at the party. When he said ‘let off steam’, he basically accepted (violation of quarantine regulations).”

The media reported that the aides stopped by the Tesco Metro Mart every Friday and even mobilized travel carriers to fill the wine cellar, and said the UK was limiting indoor gatherings “unless reasonably necessary” during this period.

Earlier, it was revealed that Johnson’s office staff had a party on the night before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip on April 16 last year, in violation of the government’s quarantine guidelines that prohibit indoor gatherings except for family.

Prime Minister Johnson apologized for the party in the prime minister’s office, but explained that he was not at the party at the time because he was in Checkers, the provincial official residence.

Even during the lockdown in May last year, Prime Minister Johnson is facing pressure to resign after it was revealed that he had a ‘wine party’ in the garden of his official residence and held two parties while private gatherings were banned during the Christmas period.

(Seoul = News 1)