A mother who heartbreakingly buried her child in May 2020 just days before Boris Johnson allegedly attended a party at number 10 while the country was in lockdown has called on the prime minister to “grow up” and resign.
Louise Bennett, from Rugby, told presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley that the funeral held for 14-year-old son Fred had taken place on 14th May – less than a week before the alleged party at Downing Street took place where over 100 people were invited.
“I think it’s just utterly devasting how out of touch they [government] seem to be with what ordinary people were going through,” Bennett said before adding how Covid restrictions made life “so much harder and impossible” at times as they abided by the rules which meant that Fred’s father was unable to visit him at first.
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“I can’t tell you the anger that I feel that the people who were supposed to be leading the country weren’t abiding by the rules,” she said in response to the latest claims.
“I think [Johnson] needs to grow up, show respect to the people he was supposed to be representing, and register the seriousness of the crisis we were living in.
“He reminds me of a little boy in trouble.”
Tragically, 14-year-old Fred passed away from leukaemia on May 3rd at a time when Covid lockdown restrictions were in place which meant just 10 people were allowed to attend his funeral.
“Fred is buried in the churchyard in our village,” Bennett explained. “We weren’t able to have a church service because the church was closed.
“So we had just a graveside ten-minute service with ten of us. That included Fred’s granddad, his aunt and uncles, and some of his cousins but not all of them and none of his friends, and none of our friends.”
“I think he [Johnson] should resign, I mean to be honest, I think it’s difficult because I think they all need to resign and that obviously logistically would be quite a challenge. But I do not see how he can look people in the eye and say that he is the leader of this country when this is how he behaves,” she said.
Later on in the programme, Reid grilled health minister Edward Argar over the latest alleged lockdown party but he attempted to dodge questions relating to whether or not the prime minister attended.
“I didn’t attend any parties in Downing Street, I don’t work at Downing Street. At that time in 2020, I was conducting pretty much all my meetings on Zoom and Teams, including with yourselves and other media,” Argar said.
Reid replied: “Congratulations for sticking to the rules Mr Argar, but my question was about the prime minister. Did the prime minister go to it?”
“I don’t know the answer to your question,” Argar responded.
When Argar said that “the prime minister takes this incredibly seriously,” Reid slammed Johnson’s actions in response.
“He didn’t take it seriously yesterday Mr Argar, when he was asked about it, he laughed,” she said. “If he took it seriously, why didn’t he ask the question, and either say, no I wasn’t there or yes I’m sorry, it was a breach of the rules and shouldn’t have been there.”
After the minister attempted to defend Johnson once more, Reid was having none of it and fired back: “He’s asking Sue Gray whether he was at the party?! Sorry, that’s not taking it seriously.”
A newly leaked email obtained by ITV News shows that Boris Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds invited more than 100 Downing Street employees to a ‘bring-your-own-booze’ event in the Number 10 garden on 20th May 2020 at the height of lockdown – “to make the most of the lovely weather”.
When confronted with these allegations yesterday, Johnson refused to answer questions, and when asked if he and wife Carrie attended the party, he said: “All that, as you know, is the subject of a proper investigation by Sue Gray,” Independent reported.