Newspaper headlines: No 10 'party clowns' and 'a sick joke'

Photos of the prime minister's former press secretary, Allegra Stratton, laughing feature on many of the front pages - as the claims that Downing Street held a Christmas party during lockdown last December were given fresh impetus.

The Times accuses Boris Johnson of "lying", after ITV News obtained a video of a mock briefing showing Downing Street staff laughing while making references to a gathering where cheese and wine were served.

An unnamed Downing Street official is quoted in the Financial Times as saying that, after the prime minister's denials, the situation is "pretty disastrous".

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail says the "damning" footage will haunt the Tories, with its main headline referring to the situation as "a sick joke".

The Mirror focuses on fresh claims that another "top Tory" broke socialising rules last Christmas, alleging former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson hosted as many as 24 members of his top team for a festive "bash". The paper quotes the Department for Education admitting that the gathering was held to thank staff for their efforts during the pandemic.

The spokesman said that while it was work-related, looking back they accepted it would have been better not to have gathered in that way at that particular time. The Mirror adds a "grotesque picture is emerging of an elite deciding rules are for the ruled, not the rulers".

Meanwhile, the build up to the festive season is "starting to look a lot like last Christmas" the i paper writes, focusing on the prime minister's continuing refusal to rule out calling for people to work from home.

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Tougher Covid rules are under consideration by the government, including plans for a work-from-home order over the festive period, according to the Daily Telegraph. The paper says the Cabinet is split about whether to bring in vaccine passports, but the measure is still being looked at given the evidence that the new Omicron variant is more transmissible than the Delta strain.

Fears the Omicron variant could "overwhelm" hospitals has led the prime minister to "pile on the pressure on the NHS" to speed up the booster jab rollout is the lead in the Daily Express.

However, the Sun focuses on a totally different story - reporting that senior figures from the energy sector "felt the heat" yesterday after blaming the power outages caused by Storm Arwen on the "wrong type of wind". It says regulators "offered no apology" while being questioned, telling MPs the downed power lines were caused by trees that had "been hit from a surprise direction".

And finally, the Daily Star says the "massive hunt for Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab's brain" is continuing. It follows the testimony of a whistleblower about problems with the withdrawal from Afghanistan this summer while he was foreign secretary.