A video of Michael Gove dancing in a crowded room to a cover of the Whitney Houston song ‘I wanna dance with somebody’, with the caption “Leaked 10 Downing Street party footage, plenty more to come” has been viewed 16,000 times on Facebook.
The caption seems to be alluding to an alleged party at Downing Street held on 18 December 2020, when the government had specifically warned people not to hold work Christmas parties and during which household mixing indoors was banned unless it was reasonably necessary for work purposes.
However, the video was taken in October 2021 during the Conservative party conference in Manchester. It shows Mr Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, dancing with fellow Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat.
This was totally legal at the time. From 19 July 2021, the government moved to step 4 of its reopening roadmap in England, when nightclubs reopened and there were no more legal limits on social contacts.