Kate Garraway has branded Downing Street's Christmas party "depressing and ridiculous" after her family had to make sacrifices last year while strict Covid rules were implemented.
Tragically, Kate's husband Derek contracted Covid-19 in early 2020 and went on to be hospitalised for 13 months, making him the worst living Covid patient in the UK.
Derek has since returned home but struggles to communicate after the virus ravaged his body - including his brain - and requires round-the-clock care.
However, while Kate's parents-in-law were prevented from visiting Derek, the Mirror revealed that Boris Johnson and his staff were accused of breaking Covid rules by attending parties at Number 10 in the run-up to last Christmas.
Despite continually denying that a party took place, staff at No 10 were filmed joking about the party just four days after it happened.
Host Susanna Reid asked Kate how she felt about the Christmas party on Good Morning Britain today.
She asked: "There's someone that's been particularly affected by this and that's our very own Kate Garraway because a year ago, you were trying to work out what you could do in terms of visiting Derek?"
"Yes, the restrictions on visiting him were greatly reduced," Kate replied. "Certainly the children couldn't see him and hadn't been able to for a long time.
"We were hoping that things might loosen with Christmas spirit, but it couldn't be. Derek's parents, most movingly I think - I kept saying to them, 'I'm sure that we can work out a way for you to see him, it's been 10 months' and they were just resolute. Even though it was breaking their hearts but they said, 'We don't want to break the rules, we're not allowed to travel. We don't want to travel, we don't want to put anybody else at risk and we don't want to do that.'
"And I thought, gosh, you're totally right and that's a massive sacrifice that you're making that you're not going to visit."
Probed on how she felt, Kate replied: "I just don't want to throw stones, basically, because the obvious thing to say is that it's heartbreaking and ridiculous and I can't believe it because I don't think they're a group of evil people.
"But there is definitely something very, very uncomfortable about - maybe they just didn't know the devastation the rules were affecting..."
" don't think anyone's suggesting malign intent here," Susanna pointed out.
Kate continued: "I just remember the scrutiny that we went through to try and make things work about the simple things like can I leave them on their own? It was just very complicated and I think if I was doing that, I think every household in the land was doing that... and it's just depressing."
*Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV
