'I missed stepfather's funeral while No 10 held party'published at 14:30 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2022
We've been hearing from a lot of people who missed out on time with loved ones - or time to grieve them - back in May 2020 when the Downing Street drinks party took place.
Leke Babalola from Milton Keynes, in Buckinghamshire, was one of them. He says he was stopped from attending the funeral of his stepfather, who died with Covid - and is now feeling "absolutely furious" that Downing Street was not following the rules it had set.
"Many of us were actually prevented from attending the outdoor funeral at the graveyard due to the very rules that the government had set out at the time.
“I, along with a number of members of the family, were physically kept out at the gates."
While funerals were exempt from Covid regulations in place at the time which prohibited large gatherings, government guidance , externalthen stated the number of mourners at services should be "as low as possible" to ensure safe social distancing.
It was advised that only members of the person's household and close family members should attend.