…that I did not attend any parties in or around Downing Street, wherever that is, during anything that might be described as a lockdown. Nor did I attend anything that looked as though it might be a party, even if it wasn’t.
I did not attend anything that was not a party, even though it might have been. Nor did I break any rules, even though I might have done, if there were any.
However I cannot rule out the possibility that I might have done one or more of those things if I had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Fancy a quick drink in the garden, Tim?”
“Don’t mind if I do. It’s been a hard day, and those scientists are so pessimistic. They make your head ache.“
Or I suppose I might say: “Sorry, I’m going to follow the rules. I’m going home. In fact, I’m not sure I should be here in the first place.” Anything’s possible.
All those things, if they were indeed things, would have happened in a quite different reality. Things do. The past is a foreign country. People act differently there. Sometimes.
I think most of us would agree with that.