The leaker: a hero or villain?

The leaker of the video – many will consider him or her a heroic whistleblower lifting the lid on bad behaviour at the heart of government – may come from a circle of Downing Street advisers or else the various TV and industry technicians, from contracted and subcontracted firms, who were working with Ms Stratton in a desperate attempt to get her “match fit” in time for the press conferences to go live.

In fact, according to insiders, Ms Stratton went through about eight or nine half-hour rehearsals over the ensuing weeks. None of them went well, it’s fair to say, and the plan for daily recorded briefings, similar to those conducted at the White House, was scrapped.

However, it raises the prospect of several hours’ more footage of her that could be drip fed into the public domain.

“That tape [discussing the Christmas Party] was only the second of Allegra’s rehearsals. Several more followed,” said a source with intimate knowledge of the process.

“The footage was sent by email only to Downing Street employees. It ran for about 30 minutes. The plan was for her to undertake these press briefings once or twice a week for 30 minutes. In the end, she did eight or nine rehearsals before the idea was scrapped. 

“The footage was circulated to the events and communications team, who would distribute it to more senior people, including the director of communications at the time, who was James Slack.” 

Mr Slack has since quit and joined The Sun as deputy editor.