'Taking the mickey': Scathing verdict over parties scandal

The mood on the streets of Wellington was one of frustration at a perception of 'Do as I say not as I do', following revelations about the alleged Downing Street party – and leaked footage showing officials laughing about breaking Covid rules.

But, despite the resentment the majority of the public said it would not affect their approach to following the rules – which they will accept to make sure people remain safe.

Nikki Marsden, 41, from Ketley, Telford, told of her own heartbreaking sacrifice, and anger at the thought that government officials were laughing at them for following the rules.

She said: "I could not visit my nan who was in hospital at the time they were having their parties and she passed away just after that.

"They just think it is a joke. It is just rubbing your nose in it."

Despite her own frustration at the hypocrisy she said she would still 'do the right thing'.

She said: "We need to follow the rules regardless but maybe they should be following the rules themselves. You cannot tell people what to do and then not follow it yourself."

Nikki added: "No one wants to be doing it and if the people giving the rules out are not following them no-one else will."

Her father, Dave Marsden, 71, questioned why government adviser Allegra Stratton – shown laughing in the leaked footage – had resigned if no rules had been broken.

He said: "It is ludicrous. If they have not done anything wrong then why has the lady resigned? I think she was pushed out of the door."

He said there was a concern that people would stop following the rules – and raised former government adviser Dominic Cummings' infamous 'eyesight-testing' drive to Barnard Castle as another example of 'one rule for them and one for us'.

He said: "They are going to get to the point where everyone ignores it. They are not setting an example.

"That Dominic Cummings, I still can't understand that guy driving to the castle to test his eyes. Give me strength."

Jane Stubbs, 60, a retired NHS worker from Wellington, was another who felt let down by the behaviour of those asking others to follow their rules.

She said: "I think we were all following the rules and I think it is absolutely disgusting. They sit their in their ivory tower saying do this, do that, the next, it is just disgusting."

Asked about the new regulations she said: "To be honest it was expected. It just made me laugh at bit. You have all that in Prime Minister's Questions and then the next minute they extend the rule. Personally I think he should be doing it and we should be following the guidance because we don't want to be back like we were before.

"People want to do the right thing but it is annoying when they lay down the rules they don't follow and we can be prosecuted."

Mal Hayden, 69 from Wellington, and retired from the engineering industry, said: "It's unbelievable. When they tell you to do something and they don't keep to the rules themselves, it is bad. You can't believe a word they say in Parliament, you just can't believe them. It just surprises me people adhere to the rules after what they have done. It is scandalous.

"I have followed the rules all through, and have kept up wearing masks when they weren't required. I do not have a problem with it."

He added: "That Dominic Cummings, where he travelled from one end of the country to the other, taking his family when he had it, it is taking the mickey out of us. It is a case of do as I say not do as I do.

"If we all followed the rules like they do it would be rife."

Dawn Jennings, 47, from Wellington, said she had followed the rules throughout and would continue to do so, along with her mother, June Jennings, 81.

Dawn said she felt the footage showing officials laughing at breaking the rules was "wrong", adding: "I do think people will be less likely to follow the rules now, though. People think what is good for them is good for us."