Alastair Stewart: Government's stance on Christmas parties is a 'lucky dip', not a clear policy

This evening, I have a real problem with that old mantra ‘do as I say, not as I do’.

It is an anthem to hypocrisy, to having one’s cake and eating it, and to all the rest of the ‘one rule for them, and another for us’ stuff.

It is in the headlines because of the row over an alleged Downing Street Christmas party - nearly a year ago - and that row rumbles on.

Oddly, however, that is not what worries me most this evening. What worries me more is that, right now, there are profoundly mixed messages on both the ‘do as I say’ and the ‘do as I do’ fronts - and I, for one, am a tad confused.

Business & Science Minister, George Freeman, has declared his Business Department will not be having a Christmas Party.

He said big companies might allow their lead as gatherings of a hundred or more might be ‘an unnecessary risk’. His close group of advisers, however, will be toasting one another…. on Zoom.

Remember, he’s one of the people who looks after business, including hospitality, and also holds the science brief - a subject on which he is pretty knowledgeable.

But the Health and Care Secretary Sajid Javid - the man responsible for the NHS and, ultimately our well-being - said there was no need to cancel parties. It might be wise, however, to test oneself before attending.

And Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Work & Pensions, on the subject of office parties, has said there ‘shouldn’t be too much snogging under the mistletoe’ which rather suggests she thinks they will go ahead.

Number 10 Downing Street said there is no ban on Christmas parties. Nor, it would seem, on interpretations of that edict!

Looking at what just three Ministers have said you might conclude there is a sort of ban, or there should be; or that there shouldn’t be, but you should get tested before attending or, if you do attend, don’t get too frisky. It's almost funny, but not quite.

We are nearly two years into a pandemic which has claimed 145,000 lives and caused pain, distress and depression for many more. Another strain of the virus, Omicron, has just hit us and is still being profiled for just how infectious, dangerous, even deadly, it might be.

The Government has embarked on a costly and urgent campaign to persuade us to get a booster jab and has just spent millions more of your money and mine on yet more jabs to see us through to next summer.

These are not the signs of a Government that thinks ‘it’ll all be over by Christmas’. So you’d have thought Ministers’ collective message on Christmas parties would be crystal clear and clinically water-tight.

Christmas parties involve, for many, judgement impeding booze, dance provoking music, nibbles that all may grab with ungloved fingers - one after the other - and a general atmosphere that may tempt even the puritans attending to indulge in a quick snog, as Therese Coffey puts it…It has, as they say, the makings of a mighty mess….

I suspect that what is at stake once again is that philosophical schism at the heart of this Government - the split between those who believe there’s no infringement of civil liberties in asking folk to wear masks, get jabbed and keep 2 meters apart etc - and those, the more libertarian, who hate the very idea of a Tory Government telling the people what to do.

I’m more with the first group than the second group, unlike several of my fellow GB News presenters, but that isn’t the issue.

If the pandemic is still, for many, a matter of life and death, then Ministers should sort out the line and stick to it.

If the new variant of the virus has a half way decent chance of infecting tens of thousand more and hospitalising many of them, it really matters - especially in the run up to the ever tricky winter months.

It all demands Ministers arrive at a clear policy position, adhered to and promoted by all.

The PM himself implied they had. Jennie Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, urged caution this Christmas - keep apart and remain cautious.

She was overruled. Advisors advise’, he reminded us, ‘Minister decide’.

Fine but here’s a thought, PM: do remind us clearly what you have decided and then tell all your Ministers what it is.

As things stand it is more of a ‘lucky dip’ than a clear and consistent policy.