Downing Street Christmas party: Nicola Sturgeon urges Boris Johnson to 'come clean' over reported party

Nicola Sturgeon has urged the Prime Minister to “come clean” over the reported party held at Downing Street last year.

The First Minister described the time of the alleged party at Downing Street as during one of the “lowest, darkest” points in the pandemic.

She said: “This was last Christmas – 18 and 19 December are dates engraved on my mind as perhaps one of, if not the lowest, darkest point in the whole pandemic.

“We had told people they could have some very limited normality over Christmas, then at the last minute we had to snatch that away and dash people’s hopes.

Nicola Sturgeon (right) with Deputy First Minister John Swinney. Picture: Russell Cheyne/pool/AFP via Getty Images

“That is what makes people so angry about what was allegedly happening in Downing Street.”

Boris Johnson has ordered an investigation into claims Downing Street staff broke lockdown rules by holding a Christmas party last year and told MPs he was “furious” about footage apparently showing aides joking about it.

But he has insisted he had been repeatedly assured “there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.

Ms Sturgeon told the BBC: “The Prime Minister appears to be not being straight and truthful about it.

“That really matters because he is likely to be asking people to do difficult things again over this Christmas and it’s really important that he’s straight and honest with people – if mistakes were made, to own them, to apologise for them.”

She added: “I think this is a really serious issue for the Prime Minister and I think he has to come clean.”