A TV interviewer fought back tears today as he confronted a top Tory over his daughter’s death - the same weekend No10 partied.
Trevor Phillips said his daughter Sushila followed the “spirit and letter of the rules” before she died aged 36 following a 22-year anorexia battle in April.
Mr Phillips said he was at a 70th birthday party, where the host had set up a tent outside for only six people, when he got the call saying she had collapsed.
She died the day after Prince Philip ’s funeral, on Sunday 18 April.
Two days earlier, No10 staff had broken a child’s swing, brought a suitcase of wine into Downing Street and DJ’d in the basement as part of two leaving bashes.
Lockdown rules at the time dictated people could only gather outdoors, and then only in groups of up to six people.
Visibly emotional Mr Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, questioned Tory chairman Oliver Dowden on Sky News.
He said he had seen his two daughters outside in the days before Prince Philip’s funeral, but “their mother, stepmother and I weren’t allowed to meet them together.”
He added: “We all stuck to the spirit and the letter of the rules. On the Saturday after watching the funeral of Prince Philip, I went to one of my friends' 70th birthday party.
"He hired a tent, he has got loads of friends, but he hired a tent just for the six of us so that we could sit outside.
“He stuck to the spirit and the letter of the rules.
“At that dinner, I get a call, my daughter has collapsed. As you will know, for months she had been isolated, she was ill.
"By the following morning, she had died and she had stuck to the spirit and letter of the rules.
“Now, there are going to be thousands of people who have that story in their background.
“And if I may say so, you are in here telling me about a civil servant's inquiry. That will not answer that anger.
“Does the Prime Minister really understand why people are angry?"
Mr Dowden noted "I know how much you have suffered during this period", adding: "What I'm trying to offer to you and to your viewers who may be watching this programme is to explain to you how the Government is seeking to move forward through this.
"First of all, to establish all of the facts of what happened. And then the Prime Minister will be held to account in Parliament for what happened."
Later Mr Phillips apologised to viewers for bringing his personal feelings into the interview.
But Labour ’s deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted it was “moving” to hear him “talk about his family’s pain this morning.
“He should not apologise for sharing his experience. We all have trauma from the last two years. That’s why everyone is so angry.”
Mr Phillips spent a lengthy portion of the interview reeling off a list of Downing Street parties while Tory chairman Oliver Dowden sat frowning with his lips pursed.
He said they were “shameful, just shameful”.
Mr Dowden said: “It was completely unacceptable that this happened. I’m happy to use whichever adjectives you choose to express my anger about what happened.”
Amid reports the PM will belatedly ban booze in No10, Mr Dowden told the BBC : “The culture in Downing street does need to be addressed.
“There were failings, we should have done better, much much better, we need to up our game and that has to be addressed.”
Yet despite mounting calls for the PM to quit - including from Tory MPs - Mr Dowden said: “ Boris Johnson should of course remain as our prime minister”.
