People who share PM’s birthday ‘disgusted’ by news of No 10 lockdown celebration
Donna Levermore spent June 19 2020 at home with her daughter, who was recovering from thyroid cancer.
People who share a birthday with Boris Johnson have said they are “disgusted” a gathering to celebrate the day with the Prime Minister was held inside No 10 during the UK’s first national lockdown.
No 10 has conceded staff “gathered briefly” in the Cabinet Room on the afternoon of June 19 2020 following a meeting after it was alleged 30 people attended, shared cake, and sang “happy birthday” to the PM, despite social mixing indoors being banned.
A single mother born exactly a year before Mr Johnson spent that day at home in Winchester, Hampshire, with her 25-year-old daughter Kirsten, who was recovering from a thyroid cancer operation and had a “7.5-centimetre gash” across her neck.
“It was terrible, absolutely awful… we’re sitting there holding each other – but hardly holding each other because she was so sore with her stitches… we pulled ourselves through it completely alone,” Donna Levermore, 58, told the PA news agency.
“(Mr Johnson) has infiltrated and spoiled everything – literally stomped all over it… I’m disgusted. He’s tarnished my bloody birthday.
“My daughter lost her neck… and this bastard is dancing the fandango.”
Kirsten was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in December 2019.
Her operation to remove the cancer was rescheduled six times before she finally underwent surgery on June 9 2020.
While Kirsten has made a full recovery, Ms Levermore said the news of a gathering at No 10 on the same day is “cruel”.
“He is not fit to govern,” she said.
“He has absolutely crushed the spirit of people – how are you supposed to believe in anything when this has happened?
“He will be remembered in history with the worst of the worst for what he’s done… it’s like dancing on someone’s grave.”
Angus Proud from Barrowford in Pendle, Lancashire also shares a birthday with the Prime Minister and said it was “galling” to hear the allegations that Mr Johnson had celebrated it while others were following restrictions.
Mr Proud tweeted a picture on Monday of himself enjoying a quiet birthday drink on June 19 2020, which he spent with his partner.
“On June 19 2020, I had a night out(doors) for my birthday. Just the 2 of us,” he tweeted.
Mr Proud, 68, told PA: “I was never a fan of Johnson, but I did think in March and April that year that he got the country on the right path.
“To find out now that he was leading his own life by his own rules is pretty galling.
“We had a pleasant enough day, but not the day we could have had.
“And that’s fine when you know we’re all in it together.
“But we weren’t, were we?”
Mr Proud said that he “absolutely” believed he was doing the right thing by having a quiet birthday, and said “it felt like a national effort to us”.
He added: “Usually I would be doing something on my birthday, nothing big, maybe a meal out with family or friends, but in 2020, obviously, we were all following the rules.
“The two of us went for a stroll locally, had a few phone calls and then dinner for two at home.”
Downing Street said staff “gathered briefly” in the Cabinet Room after a meeting, in response to a report from ITV News which suggested up to 30 people attended what it described as a birthday party.
But the broadcaster suggested the Prime Minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson, had organised the surprise get-together complete with a chorus of “happy birthday” on the afternoon of June 19 2020, when indoor social mixing was banned.
