Britain is obsessed with a Christmas party, which either did or didn't happen at 10 Downing Street last year, in the middle of a strict lockdown, as the hospitals filled with the sick and dying.

The official spokesman for the prime minister says there was no holiday party, that no rules were broken, despite a scoop by the Mirror, a British tabloid that claims yes, there was a party, with guests "knocking back glasses of wine during a Christmas quiz and a Secret Santa while the rest of the country was forced to stay at home".

Now there's leaked video, not of the alleged party itself, but of a mock news conference staged by Boris Johnson's former press secretary, about the party, four days after the alleged festivities.

The Christmas party scandal has been bubbling on the back burner for a week - and now it could explode. The story plays into assertions that Johnson and his government cannot be trusted, that it is one rule for the people and another rule for the rulers.

Brits really don't like that. And they cherish their very merry holiday parties - and to learn that 10 Downing Street might have been whooping it up as the rest of the country was told to hunker down really grates.

The revelations come just as Johnson is reportedly set to announce new restrictions to curb the spread of the omicron variant.

The opposition is naturally calling Johnson out. David Lammy, the Labour Party's point person on foreign affairs, said it was "one rule for them and another for the rest of us." He appeared on the BBC on Wednesday morning, unlike Sajid Javid, the health secretary, who had cancelled his appearance after the footage was leaked.

The clip is not definitive proof, but it is damning - as it appears to suggest that staffers knew all about the party and were cracking jokes about it.

Asked if there was such a fete, then-press secretary Allegra Stratton, replies: "This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced."

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Pressed for an answer in the rehearsal by Johnson's top aide, who was playing the role of a journalist, Stratton says, "I went home". Everyone is laughing.

Asked if the prime minister would condone such a party, Strattons asks the room: "What's the answer?"

Finally, another aide jokes that "it wasn't a party, it was cheese and wine" and Stratton laughs and asks: "Is cheese and wine all right?"

On December 18, 2020, a Friday, the day many British media outlets have been claiming the party took place, parties in London were banned. The official guidance stated "you must not have a work Christmas lunch or party where that is a primarily social activity".

The following day, Johnson announced a tightening of rules, effectively cancelling Christmas for millions.

The images from the mock news conference were plastered across the British papers on Wednesday.

"A Sick Joke" ran a front-page headline on the Daily Mail; the Metro newspaper scolded the "No 10 Party Clowns", referring to the prime minister's office, located at 10 Downing Street.

Those who lost loved ones in the pandemic said that it was deeply upsetting.

"It's disgusting," Rivka Gottlieb, who lost her father in the first lockdown, told the BBC. "It shows the utter contempt they hold the British public in," she said.

During the first lockdown in 2020, Dominic Cummings, Johnson's then top aide, often called "Boris's brain," flouted strict rules and damaged public trust in the government's handling of the pandemic. He drove six hours north, to shelter at his family farm, after he and his wife were infected by the virus. Later he drove to a nearby castle, known for sightseeing, in order, he claimed, to test his eye sight.