Woman who danced in Tory HQ in lockdown lost for words when confronted by Mirror

02 October 2023 , 10:16

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Woman who danced in Tory HQ in lockdown lost for words when confronted by Mirror

A woman who danced in Tory HQ during lockdown has refused to say sorry to families who lost loved ones in the pandemic.

The Mirror’s bombshell Partygate tape showed Malin Bogue twirling around at the “Jingle and Mingle” bash as socialising indoors was prohibited. As she attended the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, she declined to apologise.

Asked by a Mirror reporter if she had anything to say to families whose relatives died, the former Boris Johnson campaign aide said nothing. She walked away silently as she was asked if the police had spoken to her about the lockdown-busting gathering.

Ms Bogue and a male Tory worker were caught on tape partying in Conservative Campaign HQ in Westminster shortly before Christmas 2020. The footage shows them knocking over wine glasses as they spiral into a table laden with buffet food.

Malin Bogue danced around Conservative HQ during lockdown

The pair knocked over wine glasses as they spiralled into a table laden with buffet food

The unsteady pair twirl each other around to the sounds of The Pogues' Fairytale of New York. Ms Bogue, an American who is the daughter of a wealthy businessman from San Francisco, was director of special projects on Mr Johnson’s successful 2019 Conservative leadership bid. More recently she has worked for lobbying firm Stonehaven as a senior consultant.

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The Metropolitan Police announced this summer it had re-opened its investigation into the “Jingle and Mingle” Christmas bash in Tory HQ after the Mirror published the previously unseen footage. Scotland Yard’s top cop in June suggested revellers could be hit with fines after the Mirror handed over the bombshell tape.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the video told a much clearer story than a previously seen photograph of the Christmas do. Officers last year closed an investigation into the gathering after concluding there was insufficient evidence to hand out fines. Sir Mark told The News Agents Podcast: As people know, that case has been previously looked at based on a photo. It's very obvious a video tells a much richer, clearer story than a photo. And so, the team are looking at that with a view to whether that provides a basis for further investigation."

Sir Mark implied that action is likely to be taken over the footage. He said: "I think we can all see the colourful nature of the video and how much it tells a story way beyond the original photo. I need to let a team work through that but I think we can all guess which way it will go."

Attendees of the party were previously issued with police questionnaires to set out the details of the gathering. But the force announced in November last year “there was insufficient evidence to disprove the version of events provided by attendees to a standard that would meet the threshold required." Officers are thought to be examining how the partygoers’ accounts of the nature of the gathering compare to the footage.

Sophie Huskisson