Bereft daughter on UK Government: I’m disgusted. They are liars and cheats

A grieving daughter who couldn’t be with her late mum on her last Christmas and birthday because of Covid-19 rules has criticised Boris Johnson for the parties in Downing Street last December.

Linda Watson had to stand outside her mum Ellen’s care home on Christmas Day and also missed her 93rd birthday party on Hogmanay.

Ellen, who had vascular dementia, died in July a year after moving in to Bothwell Castle care home in Uddingston. In lucid moments, she told her daughter her condition was deteriorating rapidly because she had very little contact from loved ones.

Watson has been left furious by reports of lockdown parties in Downing Street at a time when she was unable to see her mum face to face regularly.

She said: “I’m absolutely disgusted with Boris Johnson and his government ministers. They’re a crowd of liars and cheats.”

Ellen still lived in her own home with Linda providing full-time care before she reluctantly agreed she needed specialist support.

She moved in to Bothwell Castle in June last year, when Scotland was still in the first lockdown.

Her daughter said: “It was window visits only for the first wee while and eventually I was able to get a four-hour visit once a week in her room.

“Last year Christmas fell on a Friday so we could only go to the window and my mum was sleeping at the time so I didn’t speak to her on her last Christmas.

“My mum’s 93rd birthday was on Hogmanay but I had to sit outside in the freezing cold because it was on a Thursday. So I also missed her last birthday. My mental health was shattered by it.”

She stood outside in all weathers to try to give her mum some comfort. She added: “I did more than 300 window visits. I made sure I was there every single day, sometimes two and three times a day.

“If I could speak to Boris Johnson I would tell him what my mother and I went through but I honestly don’t think he’d care.”