Families of the Covid bereaved told the Mirror they feel “stabbed in the heart” and are demanding Boris Johnson resigns and is investigated by police over the latest Downing Street lockdown party bombshell.
Grieving relatives told of suffering “inhumane” conditions, watching their loved ones die on FaceTime as Boris and his team enjoyed wine, cheese and biscuits together.
They joined calls from Tory MPs for the PM to quit.
Nurses on the Covid front line also told the Mirror it was like a “kick in the teeth” and said they fear the PM’s behaviour has contributed to people not getting the vaccine.
A brutal Savanta ComRes poll found 66% of Brits, including 42% of Tory voters, believed Mr Johnson should resign over the Partygate scandal.
Fury erupted this week after an email emerged from a senior aide to the PM inviting more than 100 No 10 employees to an evening gathering on May 20th 2020.
Outdoor gatherings were banned at the time under tough lockdown laws.
Boris Johnson has been accused of “hiding behind” the inquiry into rules-busting No 10 parties, to avoid facing tough questions about his own involvement.
He even ducked a Commons appearance which saw tearful and angry MPs recount painful lockdown memories.
Whitehall enforcer Sue Gray is now probing at least six events, four of which were attended by the PM, with her report expected to be published next week.
As pressure mounts, with Labour and the Lib Dems calling for Scotland Yard to look into the rule-breaking party revelations, the Met Police revealed they have been in contact with the Cabinet Office, although no formal investigation has been launched.
Furious Tories urged the PM to draw a line under the affair by confirming whether he was at a “bring your own booze” No 10 garden party.
Families told of their horror at the latest revelations.
Jenni Lang, 44, told how she was unable to see her baby brother, Graeme Wilkie, 36, in ICU when Boris held his party on May 20th, 2020
The next day she watched him take his “last breaths” over FaceTime.
“The situation felt inhumane,” she said, revealing how months later she also lost her dad, Victor Wilkie, 68, an engineer from Edinburgh to Covid.
“I think we have all suffered a kind of PTSD and get horrible flashbacks,” she said.
Hugh Palmer, 61 told of his “anger” and “sadness” at the news and said in May 2020 he had to talk to his mum, Sophia Palmer, through a window at her care home.
She had cut her own hair because she couldn’t see a hairdresser. She died three months later in August aged 91.
“So many people sacrificed themselves to ease the pressure on the NHS. It feels like they were laughing at us all the time.”
He told how his daughter had identical twin babies, adding: “My mum got to see them through the glass but she never got to hold them.”
His mum, known as Paddy, wrote some heartbreaking poetry just months before she died which revealed: “I feel like an animal he can look at but not touch.”
In the email, leaked to ITV News on Monday, the PM’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds said staff should “make the most of the lovely weather “ and urged them to “bring your own booze”.
Witnesses claimed about 40 staff attended the event, including Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie - and there were long tables laden with drink, crisps, sausage rolls and other picnic food.
Hannah Brady, a spokeswoman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group, said it was “beyond belief” as she revealed the party was held on the same day her dad’s death certificate was signed.
“It makes me feel sick to think about it,” she said as she explained her father Shaun, from Wigan, died four days before the email was sent.
She said: “I think this pandemic for me is the story of two men. One is my 55 year old dad who is dead having spent 42 nights on a ventilator fighting Covid and no other illnesses.
“The other is a man who was 55 at the time of this party, Boris Johnson.
"Having survived Covid himself thought it was appropriate where you could host a party where you could bring your own booze, sit in the garden at Downing Street.”
She said to “make matters worse” in September she sat in that same garden and told the PM how my dad had died and he’d replied ‘done everything he could’ to protect my dad.”
“Those days will stay with me for the rest of my life, just like the families of the 353 people that died that day, my family couldn’t even get a hug from our friends.”
The son of a Bletchley Park codebreaker whose funeral was on the same day as the party said he is “totally gobsmacked” by the claims.
Andy Mitchel’s mum, Ann Mitchell, from Milton Keynes, died on May 11th 2020, aged 97, having tested positive for Covid. Just five people were able to attend her funeral.
Lyndsay Jackson, 63, from Derbyshire, told how her mum Sylvia Jackson, 87, died of Covid at her residential home on April 19th and her funeral was held on May 4th 2020.
“I wasn’t able to be with her when she died, I wasn’t able to hold her hand,” she told the Mirror.
“It was a total nightmare. I was just sitting waiting by the phone for them to call me and tell me ‘she’s gone’.
“I don’t think I will ever recover. The worst thing is the feeling that I should have broken the rules. I should have gone and been with my mum.”
About Boris, she added: “I want him gone.”
The son of a playwright whose funeral took place under strict lockdown conditions in May 2020 was also disgusted by the alleged party.
Adam Daly, from Hastings, East Sussex, said he felt 'sick to the stomach' when the news broke about the 'bring your own booze' bash at No10.
His dad, Wally K Daly, died on April 30 2020 aged 79 after a short battle with cancer and his funeral went ahead on May 19 2020 - the day before the garden party.
Only eight people were allowed at Wally's funeral, compared with more than 100 invited to the Downing Street event.
Adam said: "During the first few months of lockdown one, it became clear that my father’s (non-Covid) illnesses were getting the better of him.
"Due to the strict travel and household restrictions at the time, I was was not able travel to Hammersmith from Hastings to say my last goodbyes.
"At the service, there were some nice words and music, but on the whole the funeral itself was quite a depressing affair.
"We were hurriedly ushered in and out of the chapel and only eight of us were allowed to attend in our three socially distanced family bubbles.
"No flowers. No hugs. No celebration of life with friends and loved ones. Afterwards, as there was literally nothing we could do, not even a cup of tea somewhere, we just drove from Mortlake Crematorium silently back home to Hastings.
"Wally’s funeral was on the 19th May 2020 and so yesterday I felt physically sick in the pit of my stomach as the news broke that the very next day the Clown in Chief hosted a garden party at No 10 for 40 or so colleagues, in direct contravention to the legislation and communications emanating from that very same building."
Kathryn de Prudhoe, whose dad died due to Covid complications just a few weeks before the alleged No10 party, is furious with the Government.
She told The Mirror: "I've been absolutely furious today. I feel like he ( Boris Johnson ) is laughing at us.
"He was laughing on Sky News earlier like he had been caught out smoking behind the bike sheds. But these are people's lives.
"Families like mine made the ultimate sacrifice and yet we are laughed at and disrespected."
Kathryn's father Tony Clay, 60, who had no underlying health conditions, fell sick with Covid after flying into the UK from France on March 13.
The retired civil engineer saw his daughter for the last time on March 22 and his health deteriorated shortly afterwards.
He was admitted to Leeds General Infirmary and passed away in intensive care on April 14.
Kathryn added: "We had five people at his funeral on the 28th of April. We were only allowed five people. His mum, brother and sister could not go because they lived in different parts of the country. We couldn't even go to the crematorium."
Devastated Elena Ciesco, 49 from Surrey, told how “kind and compassionate” dad Luigi Ciesco died of Covid in December 2020.
“It is the most traumatic death you will ever imagine” and added: “Boris Johnson should face criminal charges. It’s like a stab in the heart again and again.”
Tracy Fawcett, 43, ward manager at Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire, has herself twice contracted the virus and currently has a full Covid ward.
Yesterday she told the Mirror: “I think that has probably contributed to people’s behaviour in term of not getting vaccinated, not believing that Covid is true. You do feel like it is a kick in the teeth.”
Rebecca Tuson, 35, also a ward manager, said: “For the people who have lost relatives, for it to be coming out in the news they have been having parties, obviously means we have not all been in it together and we have not all been following the same restrictions.
“I think it is one rule for them and one rule for us.”
The Daily Mirror first uncovered the Partygate scandal with our report last month on two rules-busting parties at No 10 including a leaving do where the PM gave a speech and a festive bash for staff.
No 10 said the PM was standing by Mr Reynolds - and refused to confirm whether the PM had been at the bash while Ms Gray’s inquiry is ongoing.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner accused the PM of “hiding behind” the Whitehall investigation.
Labour leader Keir Starmer blasted: “Boris Johnson, your deflections and distractions are absurd. Not only did you know about the parties in Downing Street, you attended them. Stop lying to the British public. It’s time to finally come clean.”
“We’ve had enough,” one Tory MP told the Mirror. “He’s tarred us all with the same brush”.
Former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve claimed the PM was a “serial liar” who should be ousted from office.
While Tory MP, Johnny Mercer described it as “humiliating”.
Scots Tory MP Mr Ross said the PM must quit if he lied or broke the law: “If the Prime Minister has misled Parliament, then he must resign.”
Keighley MP Robbie Moore said answers were “needed quickly” and that if any rule breaches had taken place “the strongest possible disciplinary action” should be taken.
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said the allegations were “impossible to justify and defend”.
