Gary Neville slams Dominic Raab over his woeful TV interview hours after a new government party photo was revealed onto social media.
The former footballer took a swipe at the Deputy Prime Minister after giving what many described to be a car crash interview, constantly defending the underfire Boris Johnson.
The nation was watching on with Gary Neville saying what everyone was thinking: “Raab here absolutely dying on @GMB trying to protect his shambles of a boss!”
This all comes after the Guardian published a photo took in May 2020 which shows Boris and Carrie Johnson among 17 staff, with bottles of wine and a lack of social distancing, calling into question No 10’s insistence that a ‘work meeting’ was under way.
ITV presenters Adil Ray and Charlotte Hawkins took on Raab to answer some questions on Good Morning Britain, only for it to get heated at times. See what was said below…
Adil: Can you just clarify, what are we watching there? Is it a work meeting or, you’re saying two different things, if it’s a place of work, so is that what we’re watching there, a work meeting with cheese and wine, no laptops and what looks like fine different meetings? Two people are sat on the grass having a meeting and Carrie’s baby is there, so you saying a work meeting?
Dominic: There were work meetings held throughout the day and is often the case in others walks of life. They might have a drink towards the end of it. Because it’s also the home of the Prime Minister, you cna also see his wife coming down and checking in on him during that time.
Adil: I’m sorry, are you saying, at that time, what Matt Hancock was trying to tell up at the press conference was that is your are working and have got an outdoor space or working from home and got a garden, you can invite other people there who don’t live there who you might work with and you can have cheese and wine?! So could doctors and nurses sat outside and have cheese and wine?! I mean I’m sure they didn’t have time to do it and had more serious work to do. Could all the delivery drivers go in one persons’ garden sit there and have cheese and wine? Was that allowed in May 2020 Dominic?
Dominic: So, you’re conflating the rules on what apply in a workplace and what was the rules for social mixing and as I said, it doesn’t apply in the same way, of course, it doesn’t doctors and nurses in a clinical setting wouldn’t be able to do this, then again, that is a very different set of considerations on health grounds…
Adil: So why the special rule for those at Downing Street then?! Why could nobody else do that?
Dominic: It was the same rule, but that was a place where work meetings were held…
Adil: So give me an example, of another group of people, not at Downing Street, could have done that. Give me another example of where another group of people in the country could have sat there after work and had cheese and wine with others.
Dominic: You’re doing the usual thing of rant and berate me…
Adil: But you’re not answering the question, everyone can see that watching at home, I want to know, you’re saying it was a walk of life, who else could have done that?!
Dominic: It’s the usual thing of, the time you take to answer the questions and interrupt me, always takes longer to answer the questions, the point I’m making is that there are different rules for work settings than from social settings, and the rules were followed, there were a series of meetings…
Charlotte: But the rules weren’t followed were they? The rules for workplaces say that you should only have face to face meetings is absolutely necessary, only absolutely necessary participants should attend meetings, they should maintain two metres of separation throughout. And we can see from that photo that isn’t the case.
Dominic: Well they were necessary meetings, you’re talking about the cockpit of the emergency crisis response, they had work meetings throughout the day and on occasion had a drink once the meetings was over.
.@adilray and @CharlotteHawkns challenge Deputy PM @DominicRaab over the photo showing Boris Johnson alongside his wife Carrie and up to 17 staff relaxing and drinking in the Downing Street garden during lockdown in May last year.
Watch GMB 👉 https://t.co/6iQ6ebeOEQ pic.twitter.com/1jq5HuB9dJ
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) December 20, 2021
As Gary Neville slams Dominic Raab over that woeful TV interview, Twitter users also had their say on what they saw…
@gadgie3: ‘safe in the open air’ ‘socially distanced’ the same time as every park bench was off limits to everyone else? He just kept digging on digging.
@MartinGamage: Yup. Same time as my son and I were kicked out of our local park by the police for not “moving around enough” while I tried to do his goalkeeping training first thing one May morning. (And I appreciate others experienced far, far worse).
@reaney_andrew: They just don’t realise that they are doing anything wrong… they are so out of touch
@TheChrisNoble: This is fucking brilliant. You can see him on the ropesHe’s panicking. I love it!
@KevReah1: His line that they were “working in grueling conditions”. Tell that to the nurses who were doing 13 hour shifts in full PPE surrounded by infected people. I bet they didn’t all sit on a lawn at the end of shift for wine and cheese.
@AndyVee15: I’ll be doing what i want this Christmas regardless of what they say….. it’s over Rover.
@cheesy1977: Unreal what bollocks he is talking here
@mbest21: Embarrassing yet again. Sack the lot of them
@MDaws85: Never heard so much bullshit fitted into one interview!
@p30pad: As embarrassing as the VAR ref yesterday
@CamSansom: Car crash tv this
@ArchieBurrows34: Imagine the outrage if teachers (at a place of work) had a bbq on the school playing field??
@craigt1981: Trying to defend the indefensible
Gary Neville continues to vent his frustration at the government, publishing and retweeting several tweets relating to Boris, the party and lockdown.
Football fans are also having a dig at the government with Leeds supporters singing an X-rated chant on Boris Johnson at the weekend, while last week Liverpool supporters held up a banner, as you can see below.
Talks will continue on Monday over whether to halt the Premier League / EFL season due to a rise in Covid cases.
One round of top flight fixtures is rumoured to be postponed, yet a lot of managers, players and club chiefs can’t seethe point in stopping with the virus not going anywhere anytime soon.
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