Health minister questioned about party allegations

Health Minister Ed Argar toured the media this morning for the UK government and had to answer tough questions.

When asked if he would have accepted an invitation to an alleged evening over drinks in Downing Street during the first lockdown, he said he spent the month of May ‘glued to my Zoom screen’.

He told Sky News: “I have spent my month of May talking to you a number of times and various other media, but pretty much glued to my Zoom screen and making sure I know the regulations – not least because I was a Minister of Health who helped draft them.

Pressed to know if he would have accepted such an invitation in light of this, he said: “I have not been invited to any party and I am not going to enter into any assumptions.

“I was clear on the rules at the time and it is right that Sue Gray is looking at this matter independently.”

On the BBC, he might have had a ‘quiet word’ with neighbors if they had a party in May last year.

When asked if he would have ‘intervened’ if he had seen 40 people gathering in the Downing Street Garden, Mr Argar replied: ‘Well, you are citing a hypothesis there. was not in Downing Street I don’t think I went to Downing Street during this pandemic time.

“I spent most of my time sitting, as I say, glued to a Zoom or Teams screen. But I think all of us, at that point, remember what it was like.”

He added: “I think you probably asked me at the time, if, for example, I had people next door or on the street partying or breaking the rules, what would we do and that I would say? I made it clear that I could have a quiet word.

“But I’m not going to extrapolate from that or be drawn into the allegations just yet. They are being investigated by Sue Gray. So I’m not, I’m afraid, going into any assumptions about it.

“I think it’s important that she has a clear field to do her job, to investigate it, to talk to whomever she needs to get this information and to draw her conclusions on the facts of what has happened. passed or did not happen. ”