Kay Burley dropped for award consideration after Covid breach

The Sky News presenter Kay Burley has been withdrawn from consideration for a prestigious TV award and will stay off-air for the rest of the week after hosting a birthday party that broke coronavirus regulations, the Guardian understands.

Burley, arguably the channel’s most high-profile presenter, was allegedly summoned to meet Sky’s HR team and did not present her usual breakfast slot on Tuesday after it emerged that she and a group of nine others went to two venues in Soho, London, to mark her 60th birthday. A smaller group reportedly returned to her home to continue the celebration.

The Guardian understands that two of the group signed non-disclosure agreements on Tuesday as Sky moved to limit damage from the row.

Sources at the broadcaster also say that Burley’s first public Twitter statement on the incident – in which she claimed to have gone to a Covid-compliant restaurant and only broke London’s tier 2 rules when she “briefly popped into another restaurant” because she needed to “spend a penny” at 11pm – left senior management at Sky unimpressed.

The initial group of ten reportedly sat at tables of six and four at the Century Club before they went on to a nearby restaurant, Folie.

Under tier 2 restrictions, indoor social gatherings of any kind are barred except among those who live together or have formed a support bubble. Groups of up to six can socialise outside a hospitality venue if having drinks with a substantial meal. Police can impose fines of £200 for a first-time breach.

Burley has not yet explained why a group of four allegedly went back to her home, which would constitute a breach of the rules if they were inside and not part of the same household or bubble.

After her absence from Tuesday morning’s live broadcast from Coventry, where the UK’s first coronavirus vaccine was administered, Burley is expected to remain off-air all week, with her regular substitute Niall Paterson taking her place on Wednesday. She is then due to take a pre-planned holiday.

Burley tweeted on Tuesday night: “Lovely people, whatever else you read be safe in the knowledge I was always heading to my beloved Africa on Friday to sit with lions. They kill for food not sport.”

And in another sign of how toxic the story is deemed to be internally, Burley is understood to have been dropped from an entry to the Royal Television Society’s journalism awards, where Sky News has won news channel of the year for three years in a row. The deadline for entries was Tuesday night.

Inzamam Rashid, the channel’s north of England correspondent who reportedly went to the afterparty, also stayed off air on Tuesday. But political editor Beth Rigby, who attended the early part of the evening but left before the smaller group went on to Burley’s home after 11pm, stayed on air and reported on Brexit developments throughout the day.

Neither has responded publicly to the disclosures, which were not mentioned on air. A spokesperson for Sky News said on Monday that the broadcaster was “disappointed to learn that a small number of Sky News staff may have engaged in activity that breached the guidelines” and that an internal review was under way. The spokesperson declined to comment further on Tuesday.

Other colleagues described a mood of infuriation among staff outside Burley’s circle. “It was just such a massive own goal, very ‘one rule for us,’” one said. “KB is quite combative and ruthless with politicians about exactly this stuff. Not great for her not to be forthcoming about it herself now. How does she ask questions if an MP does it?”

“No one is particularly impressed,” said another. “The fact it wasn’t just one [location] smacks of ‘I know I’ll get away with it.’” A third said: “It’s fair to say that the overwhelming reaction from those I’ve spoken to is ‘what the shuddering fuck?’”