Trevor Phillips relived the death of his daughter during an interview with a senior minister, explaining how she died two days after No.10 was reportedly hosting a particularly boozy party.
Speaking during his show on Sky, Trevor Phillips On Sunday, he was questioning the co-chair of the Conservative Party Oliver Dowden over the government’s lacklustre response to the Partygate scandal.
So far, the prime minister has apologised, but all ministers have deferred to top civil servant Sue Gray’s investigation into the parties rather than encouraging Johnson to resign.
The broadcaster began: “I hoped never to have to [talk about this] again, but I think there are thousands, millions of people across the country, who will frankly, rather as I do.”
Going back to the week before Prince Philip’s funeral, around the time Downing Street staff were holding a party and filling up a suitcase with bottles of wine, Trevor explained what his family did.
He said he saw his two daughters at various points – one was pregnant, and one was very ill.
He clarified that he was not able to meet up with his daughters when accompanied by either their mother or their stepmother, adding: “We all stuck to the spirit and to the letter of the rules.
“On the Saturday, after watching the funeral of Prince Philip, I went to one of my friend’s 70th birthday parties. He had hired a tent – he’s got loads of friends – but he’s hired a tent for just six of us.
“He’s stuck to the spirit and to the letter of the rules.
“At that dinner I get a call, my daughter’s collapsed, and as you will know, for months, she’d been isolated, she was ill.
“By the following morning, she had died.”
Trevor’s daughter, Sushila, died aged 36 on Sunday 18 April after a 22-year anorexia battle.
Trevor continued: “She had stuck to the spirit and to the letter of the rules.
“There’s going to be thousands of people who have that story in their background.”
Referring to Sue Gray’s inquiry, he added: “You are in here, telling me about a civil servant’s inquiry.
“That will not answer that anger.
“Does the prime minister really understand why people are angry?”
Oliver responded: “Well first of all, I know how much you’ve suffered during this period.
“And I know how much so many people in this country have suffered, the privations they have been subject to, the steadfastness with which people obeyed the rules.
“And it is totally wrong if there has been any way in which – and we’ve seen some examples of this – those rules have not been fully obeyed in Downing Street.
“What I’m trying to offer to you and to your viewers who may be watching, is to explain how the government is seeking to move forward through this.”
He said all the facts have to be established first and the prime minister will then be held to account in parliament.
“He has a sincere sense of remorse and regret as to what happened, as do I, as do other members of the government,” the minister said.
The government has also appears to be trying to shift focus away from the No.10 drama by unrolling so-called Operation Red Meat, to distract Tory backbenchers, and Operation Save Big Dog, to save the prime minister’s job.