Ricky Gervais admits he naively trusted government before garden party scandal

Watch: Ricky Gervais feels he was naive to trust the government

Ricky Gervais confessed he had been naive in trusting the government, until it was revealed they enjoyed secret garden parties during the first coronavirus lockdown.

Prime minister Boris Johnson is yet to comment on the photo of him in the Downing Street garden with wife Carrie Symonds and 17 staff members in May 2020, when household mixing was limited to one-on-one outdoor meetings due to the pandemic.

Gervais, 60, told ITV News: “I totally get the anger with these parties that the government — the people in charge — were breaking the rules, having these parties in their lovely gardens.

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“I think I’ve been naive all my life. It’s not until now [that] I just go, 'Why do we trust them?' Of course we shouldn’t trust the people in charge – that’s how they’re in charge. They shouldn’t be trusted.”

The star of The Office and After Life endorsed the Labour party during the 2017 general election in a Tweet advising his followers to vote for Jeremy Corbyn.

Stand-up comedian Gervais recently shared an angry video on Twitter voicing his frustration about the government garden parties scandal.

He said: "Do you know what's the worst thing as well apart from the pandemic and the devastation and the deaths and the strain on the health service and people losing their livelihoods?

"The worst thing is the f***ing c**** in charge do what they want and all the parties they were having and people saying 'that was the day I couldn't see my mum in hospital' or 'I couldn't go to my dad's funeral' because the people in charge, the posh, privileged people in charge were acting like f***ing Charlie Sheen, really rubbing salt in the wound."

Senior civil servant Sue Gray is investigating a number of parties reported to have taken place at Downing Street and elsewhere in Whitehall during 2020 when lockdown restrictions were legally enforced on the rest of the UK.

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Johnson has refused to confirm or deny his presence at the garden party. He is due to appear at Prime Minister's Question Time at midday on Wednesday.