Government ministers broke their own Covid rules at a recent ‘Cobra’ meeting.
It can be hard to tell from photographs, but there’s no clear evidence ministers were not following current workplace guidance at the Cabinet meeting. Some rules that apply to social activity do not currently apply in workplaces.
These images were taken at a ‘Cobra’ meeting.
This is incorrect. They appear to have been taken at a cabinet meeting.
A Facebook post shared hundreds of times claims that photos taken at a recent government meeting show government ministers failing to comply with their own rules around mask-wearing, social distancing and gathering size at a “COBRA meeting”.
However, the post gets a few points wrong.
Firstly, from what we can tell, these photos were not taken at a 'Cobra' meeting. Cobra (or COBR, as it is sometimes called) stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms, and is the common name for the government's civil contingencies committee that meets at times of national emergency or crisis.
The photos appear to have been taken during and after a cabinet meeting at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office on 22 September, the same day as the recent ‘Cobra’ meeting. The pictures appear in multiple news reports with descriptions saying that they were during and after the cabinet meeting.
There are a number of details that back this up—firstly, the background in the main photo matches that seen in previous photos of the Foreign Office’s meeting room. ‘Cobra’ meetings, as the name suggests, usually happen at the cabinet office rooms. News agency photos of ministers entering the cabinet meeting on 22 September show them in the same clothing as in the photo.
According to reports, the ‘Cobra’ meeting was attended by the first ministers of the devolved nations.
And it’s not clear that any rules are being broken in the images. It is currently not government advice that people should wear masks in offices, and the “rule of six” does not apply to workplaces. There should be a “reasonable effort to comply” with social distancing guidelines in workplaces, but the distance can be less than 2m if other risk mitigation is carried out.
Cabinet ministers have been meeting at the Foreign Office, rather than the usual location in Downing Street, as it allows for more space.
It’s also worth remembering that, depending on the angle, distance and equipment used, photographs can sometimes make it seem like people are closer together than they really are. We’ve written about this before here. Images of previous cabinet meetings at the Foreign Office show seats placed far apart.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because this was not taking at a ‘Cobra’ meeting and ministers appear to be adhering to guidance.
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