The son of a former Vice Lord Lieutenant of Kent is at the centre of the Downing Street “Partygate” video.

Downing Street special advisor Ed Oldfield, 23, is a former pupil of King’s School in Rochester and can be heard joking with Boris Johnson's former press secretary Allegra Stratton on the now-notorious leaked video about a lockdown-busting party at Number 10.

Mr Oldfield was heard on the tape saying: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas Party on Friday night – do you recognise those reports?”

Ms Stratton initially replies: “I went home” then laughs, adding “hold on, hold on”, to which Mr Oldfield added: “Would the Prime Minister condone having a Christmas party?”

Ms Stratton laughed and said “What’s the answer?” to which Mr Oldfield, also laughing, replied “I don’t know.”

Another member of staff then said “It wasn’t a party - it was cheese and wine.”

The Christmas party took place on December 18 last year when London was under Tier 3 Covid restrictions, meaning all inside gatherings of two or more people were banned and work parties were prohibited.

The Metropolitan Police have said it will not investigate, saying it's not policy to investigate retrospective breaches of coronavirus regulations.

But on Wednesday, Ms Stratton resigned and apologised for her behaviour.

Mr Oldfield, son of millionaire investment banker and Tory donor Richard, kept his head down as he strode purposely through Whitehall today, pursued by journalists.

In a brief statement, Kerry France, director of external relations at King's School, Rochester, told KentOnline: “We can confirm that Ed Oldfield was a pupil at King’s School, Rochester, between 2012 and 2016.

“This aside, we cannot disclose any additional information regarding former pupils of the school.”

Both Richard and Ed Oldfield have been approached for comment regarding Ed’s involvement alongside Ms Stratton in the video leaked this week.

The family’s recent history has been marred by tragedy.

Ed’s older half-brother, Henry, died of a drug overdose, aged 25, in April 2017.

A trained pilot, Henry had been battling drink and drugs addictions for many years. He checked into a rehabilitation centre in February 2017 - but fled after 63 days and boarded a plane to Bogota, Colombia.

Coroner Allison Summers, recording a verdict of accidental death, said: “This is a profoundly sad case."

Richard, who was Vice Lord Lieutenant of Kent from 2011 until 2020, found himself at another inquest in 2018 after motorcyclist Alexander Politowicz, 32, died after ploughing into his car.

The court heard Mr Oldfield’s visibility was limited by overgrown hedgerows at a country road junction near his home in Doddington near Sittingbourne - forcing him to pull into the road in front of the motorcycle.

Neither motorist was found to be culpable, and toxicology tests showed the motorcyclist had taken nothing that might affect his driving.

Mr Oldfield, driving an Audi Q5, likewise passed police roadside breath, drug and eyesight tests.

Officers established he had not been using a mobile phone at the time of the crash.

Assistant coroner Eileen Sproson concluded the death was caused by a road traffic collision.