After a week of denying that any party took place at Downing Street last Christmas, Boris Johnson has asked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to investigate. We discuss the row, the response, and what comes next.  In the midst of all of this, the PM announced Plan B Covid measures for England. What do they mean in practice? And in other developments, a Foreign Office whistleblower testified about the ‘chaotic’ Afghanistan withdrawal this summer. We look at the fall-out. Laura Hughes, Diplomatic and Political correspondent for The Financial Times, is our guest this week. “The constant denials of this party encouraged journalists to keep digging. Now it’s completely out of control for the PM.” - LAURA HUGHES “The attempted cover-up is as bad as the crime. This suggestion by Labour that the public have been take for fools does stand.” - LAURA HUGHES “It beggars belief that Johnson didn’t have a conversation in the last week where he asked ‘Was there a party? What’s my line?’.” - CATH HADDON “Allegra Stratton’s resignation has evoked quite a lot of sympathy for her from the public, but her position was untenable.” - JILL RUTTER “If I was a cynical journalist, announcing a huge raft of new COVID measures might be a diversion tactic from rumours of parties in Number 10.” - LAURA HUGHES “This line of ‘don’t go to work but have a Christmas party’ doesn’t make sense.” - CATH HADDON Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon and Jill Rutter. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices