Who was at Conservative HQ Christmas party during Covid lockdown?

A new Partygate video that shows Conservative officials dancing, joking and drinking during lockdown has forced thousands across the UK to relive harrowing memories of the sacrifices they made during lockdown.

Michael Gove has apologised and said their actions are “indefensible”, but he refused to back calls for some of the attendees to lose honours they were given by Boris Johnson, who has been found guilty of misleading parliament over the Partygate scandal.

Hours before the event at Conservative party headquarters on 14 December 2020, organised by Shaun Bailey’s London mayoral campaign team, the then health secretary, Matt Hancock, announced London was to move into tough tier 3 Covid restrictions.

Here we look at some of those who were at the party.

Shaun Bailey

Lord Bailey was the party’s candidate for London mayor when the lockdown-busting party was held. It is understood the video was filmed shortly after he had left the event. But he was pictured, standing in the middle of a group, wearing a white shirt and smiling, as his colleagues pose with glasses in their hands.

Ben Mallet

Ben Mallet can be seen wearing festive braces, a navy blue tie and holding a glass of wine in the video and in the picture that had first circulated. He is understood to be a close friend of Carrie Johnson and also ran Zac Goldmith’s mayoral campaign. Mallet is now running Mozammel Hossain’s London mayoral campaign.

Jack Smith and Malin Bogue

Smith was pictured in a festive jumper and green trousers dancing with Malin Bogue, who was wearing a red A-line shaped dress, to the song Fairytale of New York by the Pogues.

The pair took turns to twirl each other around, laughing, while dancing in front of a sign that said: “Please keep your distance.” The pair were dancing so frantically they knocked over wine glasses as they accidentally spiralled into a table.

Smith is a parliamentary aide to the Conservative energy minister Graham Stuart.

Bogue is the daughter of a wealthy businessman from San Francisco. She worked on Johnson’s leadership campaign to replace Theresa May as leader in 2019. While she volunteered to work for Johnson’s campaign, it was revealed she was paid by Sanjeev Gupta, the industrialist whose practices left 5,000 UK jobs at risk. She now works for the lobbying firm Stonehaven as a senior consultant.