No. 10 apologises for serving meat and alcohol at Diwali party

TOI correspondent from London: No. 10 has apologised for serving alcohol and meat at its Diwali party held two weeks ago.
On Friday, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister was pleased to welcome a range of communities celebrating Diwali to a reception in Downing Street. He paid tribute to the huge contribution the British Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities make to our country. A mistake was made in the organisation of the event. We understand the strength of feeling on this issue and so would apologise to the community and assure them it will not happen again.”
The Hindu Council UK, which was not invited, wrote a letter to UK PM Keir Starmer afterwards informing him that the consumption and serving of meat and alcohol are strictly forbidden during Hindu religious celebrations and the choice to serve these items was “insensitive”.
Leicester East Hindu MP Shivani Raja also wrote to Starmer saying the festivities had been “overshadowed by negativity” owing to this oversight.
The apology comes as a mysterious email from one NC Guragol addressed to external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar was copied to the media accusing Labour Indians and the Indian high commission in London of organising the event. Labour Indians told TOI it had no involvement.
Deepak Choudhary, minister (coordination) at the HCI, said: “As the event was hosted by HMG, the HCI — as a foreign domestic mission — obviously had no role in any aspect of the event. As in other such invitations to events organised by the host govt, we attend in the same manner as any other guest.”