Politics

"Even by his standards, this is absolutely shameful," the former GMB presenter tweeted.

"Not many people are going to be laughing tonight," ITV anchor Tom Bradby said, in a withering critique of the government.

The Department for Education admitted "it would have been better" not to go ahead with a boozy Christmas party.

"After all the sacrifices the people of this country have made, they’re laughing at us. Pretty unforgivable."

"It suggests that, after a week of saying a party did not take place, they currently have no idea how to approach this story", Ian Dunt said.

"On the day you partied, my mother called me, breathless and feverish. I didn’t visit. On the day you joked, she was admitted to hospital. I didn’t visit. As you celebrated Christmas, she died without family by her side. I promise you, it wasn’t funny."

"No 10 has spent the past week denying any rules were broken. This new evidence calls that into question," Paul Brand said.

"This video sums up our dire politics", wrote Siobhan Benita.

Ireland is the first country to receive a payout from an EU fund to "mitigate the impact of Brexit".