Joe Lycett's Covid party post fuelled by 'anger'

Joe Lycett said he was "angry" after losing a friend in the early stages of lockdown

Comedian Joe Lycett has said "anger" motivated a social media post sharing a fake version of Sue Gray's report into lockdown parties at Downing Street.

The 33-year-old tweeted what looked like a formal Cabinet Office document, with letterhead and titled "A summary of my main findings".

Mr Lycett said he made the post after losing his friend during lockdown.

Government sources messaged the TV star to say officials had initially believed his post was the leaked report.

He captioned his tweet: "BREAKING: Leaked Sue Gray report reveals shocking abuse of the rules. Hard to see how the PM can cling on after this."

Ms Gray's report into the alleged parties was expected to be passed to Downing Street on Wednesday but the Met police have asked her to leave out key details to avoid prejudicing their own inquiries.

In a tweet on Friday, former Great British Sewing Bee Presenter said his best friend had died from cancer in the early stages of 2020.

Lycett said he had been a part-time carer for him and "watched him slip away" after being ill for a number of years.

"But he died, at the start of lockdown, and I wasn't there because I was following the rules," he said.

"And we had a tiny insufficient funeral, because we were following the rules, and I drove his kids away from that funeral back to Birmingham without any sort of wake, because we were following the rules, and it felt unnatural and cruel and almost silly, but we did it because we followed the rules," he said.

"So I suppose like thousands of others with their own stories, I'm angry about that."

The Got Your Back presenter added he was not a "political comic" and "rarely" made outwardly political statements but wrote he felt the government are out for "power and little else".

The BBC has contacted the Cabinet Office for a response.