WATCH: UK PM's aide jokes about 'lockdown party', resigns later

Allegra Stratton announces her stepping down in a tearful statement

LONDON:

An adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has quit after a video surfaced of her laughing and joking about a party in Downing Street during a Christmas Covid-19 lockdown last year when such festivities were banned.

"I will regret those remarks for the rest of my days"

Allegra Stratton gives a tearful statement as she resigns as government adviser, after she was seen in video joking about lockdown Christmas party at No 10https://t.co/xr1lLgIXwI pic.twitter.com/Idqbe5vgtO

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) December 8, 2021

Allegra Stratton, who was most recently Johnson's COP26 spokesperson, was his press secretary at the time the video was recorded in December 2020.

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In the video aired by ITV, Stratton was shown at a rehearsal for a daily briefing laughing and joking about a reported gathering at a time when tens of millions of people across Britain were banned from meeting family and friends to celebrate Christmas, or even from bidding farewell to dying relatives.

Exclusive: Senior Downing Street staff joked about holding a Christmas party in Number 10 just four days after event is alleged to have taken place last December

Watch full video here: https://t.co/4IejHdqtJM pic.twitter.com/6XMa2t2d1g

— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) December 7, 2021

"My remarks seemed to make light of the rules, rules that people were doing everything to obey. That was never my intention. I will regret those remarks for the rest of my days," a tearful Stratton told reporters outside her home.

"I understand the anger and frustration that people feel. To all of you who lost loved ones, who endured intolerable loneliness and who struggled with your businesses - I am truly sorry and this afternoon I am offering my resignation to the prime minister."