Leaving-do claims prompt scrutiny of tabloid’s coverage of Downing Street alleged lockdown-breaking eventsPM’s former aide apologises for Downing Street party held in his honourWhen James Slack quit as Boris Johnson’s director of communications to become deputy editor-in-chief of the Sun, he might have hoped to avoid the glare of the media. But now Johnson’s former communications director finds himself as headline news, at the centre of a political scandal which highlights the revolving door between Britain’s political and media elite.
Slack’s leaving do at Downing Street, complete with allegations of staff dragging a suitcase of booze into No 10 as lockdown restrictions remained in place, have unleashed further fury. He has already apologised “unreservedly for the anger and hurt caused” and said the event should not have taken place. The matter has been referred to an ongoing investigation into lockdown-busting parties led by the civil servant Sue Gray, which is due to report next week.