Tobias Ellwood took full advantage of London’s last night of Tier 2 relative freedom, attending a dinner of 27 people organised by the Iraq Britain Business Council at the swanky Guards Club in Mayfair. Fortunately for Tobias, Tier 2 rules allow indoor business meetings of up to 30 people, and the Iraq Britain Business Council does sound quite businessy. Unfortunately for Tobias, the event had been described as a “Christmas Party” rather than a business meeting on the organisation’s website…

Just yesterday morning Tobias had taken the airwaves to urge Parliament to debate tightening rules for Christmas, citing how many Covid hospitalisations there have been in recent days. Just three households meeting indoors was too much for Ellwood, despite the night before having been part of an indoor group of 27 from any number of households. It might have been legal, it was hypocritical given his public stance. Priti Patel was not sympathetic to the business meeting loophole, she threw him out to dry this morning, telling ITV News that “of course” Tobias’s action was an “egregious breach” of the rules, even suggesting a fixed penalty notice would be issued…