The deputy prime minister’s comments that the alleged Downing Street parties took place while staff were working ‘under phenomenal strain’ have ignited resentment.

Talking to Sky News, Raab described the environment at 10 Downing Street as a “cockpit for people working phenomenally hard under phenomenal strain,” adding that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if people drank after a long week.

The comments that seemingly attempted to offer some justification to the government’s alleged Covid rule-breaking parties, confounded and incensed much of the public.

Following the remarks, Twittersphere went into overdrive, with NHS workers particularly voicing antipathy, while sharing their experiences of gruelling working conditions.

‘NO idea’

Rachel Clarke, an NHS palliative care doctor, tweeted: “I’m finding it hard to stomach Dominic Raab defending @BorisJohnson and Downing Street as a “cockpit for people working phenomenally hard under phenomenal strain.”

“Oh really? Try 13 hour shifts in full PPE. Try iPad farewells. Try terror and grief and trauma and horror.

“You have NO idea.”

‘OOPS!’

Best for Britain, the cross-party advocacy group that upholds internationalist values, alluded to Raab’s car crash interview on Sky News, tweeting:

“OOPS! Did justice secretary, @DominicRaab, just explain on national TV that “having a beer” provided it is “in a work setting” does not break the rules?” 

Jordan Rivera, an occupational therapist working at a hospital in east London, shared her story of exhausting working conditions in May 2020, the time when Downing Street staff were reportedly letting off steam at a ‘bring your own booze’ garden party.

The single mum of two described the harrowing situations in hospital during the spring of 2020.

“It was like something out of a science fiction film, you were faced with a ward of people lying on their backs on high levels of oxygen.

“We were working with such sick people and in such distress. They [the Government] don’t have a clue what we were going through,” Rivera told iNews.

The occupational nurse continued that under such stressful working conditions, there were times she would have loved to have relaxed with drinks with friends, but there was a “collective feeling that if we all stuck to the rules, as everybody else was, then we could get past this situation.”

“Hearing these excuses is so frustrating. I’m furious. Do they know what was going on in hospitals?”

Raab undermines Downing Street claims

This isn’t the first time the secretary of state for justice has jumped to Boris Johnson’s defence over his alleged rule-breaking escapades. The deputy prime minister also has a habit of undermining No. 10’s claims.

In December, as Downing Street attempted to defend its get-together in May on the grounds that “there were staff meeting after a No 10 press conference,” – despite the presence of wine and cheese – Raab undermined the claims, saying the gathering was “after” work had finished.

Talking to BBC Breakfast, the justice secretary, said: “This wasn’t a social occasion. It was staff having a drink after a busy set of work meetings and the pressures of the day.”

This week saw Raab put his foot in it again when, facing a grilling on Sky News over the allegations that Johnson knowingly went to a BYOB party in May 2020, he referred to the May 2020 event as a party.

Raab said claims that ‘the May 2020 party’ was in honour of him for taking over as PM while Johnson was in hospital with Covid were ‘ridiculous.’

To which presenter Kay Burley responded: “So it was a party on May 20^th .. You’ve just referred to it as the May 20th party?’

Raab replied: ‘No.. this is the claim that was made.

‘It was nonsense, I wasn’t invited, and I didn’t attend.’

#Dumnic

Raab’s seemingly inadvertent admission of a party was quickly excoriated on social media, with the hashtag #Dumnic surfacing.

While leaping to Johnson’s defence on the one hand, the justice secretary then told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that for a prime minister to deliberately lie to Parliament would “normally” be a resigning matter.

“If it’s lying, deliberate in the way you describe, if it’s not corrected immediately, it would normally, under the ministerial mode and the governance around Parliament, be a resigning matter,” Raab added.

For the keyworkers who had undergone immense hardship at a time when No 10 staffers were allegedly letting off steam boozing at a garden party, the damage is irreversible and unforgivable.  

As occupational therapist Jordan Rivera says:

“I don’t know how they can get away with it. I just want them all gone.”

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward

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