���˿���

The man who was asked to investigate the stories of Christmas parties at Downing Street has stepped aside from the job.

Sir Simon Case - the Cabinet Secretary - was asked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to investigate reports of a party held at Downing Street last Christmas, which would have broken the strict coronavirus rules that were in place at the time.

Although Mr Johnson wasn't there, it's very embarrassing for the PM as it looks really bad if his senior staff were ignoring government rules the rest of the public were being asked to follow.

Now Sir Simon Case has had to quit after it emerged that a Christmas party took place at his own office last year too.

A government spokesperson said: "The cabinet secretary played no part in the event, but walked through the team's office on the way to his own office."

Downing Street say the investigation would now be done by another senior civil servant - Sue Gray.

A spokesperson said: "To ensure the ongoing investigation retains public confidence the cabinet secretary [Simon Case] has recused himself for the remainder of the process". 'Recused' means 'stepped aside.'

They said Ms Gray would "ascertain the facts and present her findings to the prime minister".

A difficult time

The news is another problem for the Prime Minister after what's been a difficult period for him.

When reports of the Christmas party at Downing Street - the PM's home and office - came out, he faced a lot of anger from the public and from politicians - including people on his own team.

Following these reports, a vote on the latest coronavirus restrictions for England, 99 of his own MPs voted against his plans in Parliament.

The rules still passed but it was a big sign that his MPs weren't happy with the decisions he was making right now.

On Friday 17 December his party lost an MP election, that they would have expected to win, to a party called the Liberal Democrats.

The election took place after the former Conservative MP resigned.

This was because of a big and controversial argument over the MP breaking rules by receiving payments from companies.

Experts said that part of the reason the Conservatives lost was that people were angry with his government about things like the Christmas parties and the way Mr Johnson is running things.

One of his senior MPs, Sir Roger Gale told the ���˿���: "This has to be seen as a referendum on the Prime Minister's performance. Two strikes already... now this - one more strike and he's out."

���˿��� politics expert Laura Kuenssberg explains: "There are plenty of Conservatives, even in the party's senior ranks, who believe it's over. The question is not whether he will lead the party into the next election, but how and when he will leave, and who will make moves to oust him.

"Yet others persist that his talents are significant." she added, "If he can reflect honestly on what's gone wrong and make changes, particularly in Downing Street, this moment may represent the bottom of the slide, and Mr Johnson can clamber out."