october 2020; johnson he denied this, calling the allegation "total rubbish". in august 2020, school exam grades standardisation algorithm attracted controversy. whilst the algorithm was designed to combat grade inflation nearly 36% of students were one grade lower than teachers' predictions and 3% were down two grades. this resulted in public outcry. in response to the outcry, on 15 august, gavin williamson said that the grading system is here to stay, and there will be "no u-turn, no change". two days later on 17 august, ofqual and gavin williamson agreed to a u-turn and grades would now be reissued using unmoderated teacher predictions. government contracts related to the pandemic response have also attracted political controversy, with several senior politicians including matt hancock accused of cronyism by providing lucrative contracts to private companies connected to the conservative party. hancock was found to have acted unlawfully by the high court by not publishing details of a contract within 30 days. the greensill scandal, which implicated former prime minister david cameron, involved cameron lobbying the uk government to receive an emergency loan for supply chain financing firm greensill capital as part of the government's economic response to covid-19, and highlighted links between civil servants and private companies. covid-19 related contracts culminated in a lobbying scandal involving conservative mp owen paterson, leading to his resignation despite initial attempts by the government to avoid paterson's suspension from parliament. it has also been suggested that the pandemic has highlighted regional inequalities in the uk including the purported north–south divide. leaders in northern england such as mayor of greater manchester andy burnham and several conservative mps, including those in the northern research group, criticised the government when their regions were placed under local lockdown regulations and later tier regulations in england, citing the economic impact and accused the central government of providing inadequate fiscal support. controversies have arisen from government officials allegedly breaching public health advice or restrictions. catherine calderwood and neil ferguson resigned from their respective positions for travelling during the march 2020 lockdown. health secretary matt hancock became embroiled in a scandal in 2021 when photographs emerged of him breaching social distancing measures by kissing aide gina coladangelo in his workplace, which led to his resignation in june 2021. following the july 2021 lifting of the legal requirement to wear face coverings indoors, parliament became divided along ideological lines, with those who viewed them "as an unreasonable imposition on personal freedoms", mainly conservative mps, no longer wearing them whilst others continued to wear them. starting in december 2021, "partygate" became a major political controversy, revolving around government and conservative party staff holding social gatherings during covid-19 lockdowns in the uk, when these were prohibited. boris johnson and rishi sunak both received fixed penalty notices. the controversy eventually played a role in a later government crisis and boris johnson's resignation. some political parties and politicians have opposed government pandemic restrictions. the covid recovery group within the conservative party pushed to lift lockdown restrictions while they were in place. nigel farage's brexit party rebranded as reform uk in late 2020, with its primary focus being opposing covid-19 lockdowns. the government implemented a virtual house of commons to minimise the spread of the virus among parliamentarians. the leader of the opposition, keir starmer, his deputy angela rayner, and other members of the labour party were investigated by the police for alleged breaches of covid-19 regulations in the 'beergate' affair. they were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. racial disparities in all countries which collect and publish data on race, covid-19 has disproportionately affected communities of colour. in the uk, ethnic minorities are generally more likely to work in jobs (such as security guards or supermarket staff) where they are most likely to be exposed to the public, and therefore at greater risk of infection. they are also more likely to live in cities and urban environments and in crowded multi-generational households. in addition, ethnic minorities are more likely to have pre-existing conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, which increase the risk of dying from the virus. according to a government-ordered inquiry released by public health england in june 2020, black, asian and minority ethnic (bame) people in the uk are more likely to contract and die from covid-19 complications than white britons. black people in the uk are more likely to be diagnosed with the disease, but the disparity in death rates is greatest among people of bangladeshi heritage, who are twice as likely to die of covid-19 than white people. data from the office for national statistics (2 march–28 july 2020) showed that most ethnic minorities in england and wales (excluding indians and chinese) are more likely than whites to live in the most deprived 10% of areas in the uk, where death from covid-19 is more likely. in england, a black man is nearly 4 times as likely to die from the disease than a white man of the same age. bangladeshis are two times as likely to live in such areas, and bangladeshi men are three times as likely to die from the disease. when adjusting for geography, this ratio fell to 2.3; controlling for poverty and exposure at work, this fell to 1.9; controlling for self-reported health concerns and pre-existing conditions, this still left the bangladeshi men 1.5 times more likely to die from covid-19 than white men of the same age. this coincides with reports from epidemiologists such as sir michael marmot and others, who conclude that worse health of black people worldwide (particularly black men) can be explained by conventional socioeconomic measures only in part; discrimination and prejudice in healthcare, more pre-existing health conditions and possible genetic factors are considered to play a part. racism main article: xenophobia and racism related to the covid-19 pandemic § united kingdom on 12 february 2020, sky news reported that some british chinese said they were facing increasing levels of racist abuse. it was recorded that hate crimes against british chinese people between january and march 2020 have tripled the amount of hate crimes in the past two years in the uk. according to the london metropolitan police, between january and june 2020, 457 race-related crimes against british east and southeast asians (esea). verbal abuse has been one of the common forms of racism experienced by british chinese. just before the lockdown in february 2020, british chinese children recalled experiences of fear and frustration due to bullying and name calling in their schools. according to a june 2020 poll, 76% of british chinese had received racial slurs at least once, and 50% regularly received racial slurs, a significantly higher frequency than experienced by any other racial minority. racism during the pandemic has also impacted a number of chinese-owned business, especially within the catering business, as well as an increase in violent assaults against british east and southeast asians. in light of the increasing racism in the uk, a non-profit, grassroots organisation besea.n established "to promote positive representation of esea people in the uk and tackle discrimination at all levels in society." the organisation planned to establish esea heritage month in september 2021 to celebrate the history and culture of esea. religion main article: impact of the covid-19 pandemic on religion statement at scottish episcopal church in gourock: no public services until further notice. the church of england and other anglican churches in the british isles suspended in-person worship during the covid-19 pandemic. the archbishop of canterbury led a virtual service that was broadcast on 39 local bbc stations. the catholic church, methodist church in great britain and the society of friends also put a temporary moratorium on public worship. the chief rabbi in the united kingdom advised the suspension of worship in synagogues, and the muslim council of britain ordered the closure of mosques in the country. in september 2020, just under 700 british church leaders and ministers submitted a letter to prime minister and the first ministers of the devolved assemblies urging that churches would not be closed again. royal family on 19 march, the 93-year-old queen elizabeth ii left london for windsor castle. on the same day she issued a message to the nation noting that the country and the world were entering a period of great concern and uncertainty. on 5 april 2020 the queen gave a televised address watched by 23.97 million people. the queen additionally recorded an audio message for easter saturday, in which she spoke of hope and said "coronavirus will not overcome us". the annual gun salute and trooping the colour to mark the queen's birthday were cancelled for the first time. in march, prince charles greeted people with a namaste gesture instead of a handshake at the commonwealth service at westminster abbey and the prince's trust awards. on 10 march, charles met albert ii, prince of monaco, who later was diagnosed with the infection. on 25 march, charles tested positive and self-isolated at birkhall on the balmoral castle estate. concerns were raised for the health of the entire royal family, as well as concerns that he may have unwittingly become a super-spreader of the disease due to the vast number of people he regularly meets. charles last saw the queen on 12 march, one day before the earliest date medical experts believed he would have been contagious. the duchess of cornwall tested negative, but self-isolated. on 30 march clarence house, the prince's official residence, confirmed that he had come out of self-isolation after seven days having recovered from the illness. the prince released a video message on 1 april in support of age uk. charles remotely opened the nightingale hospital at the excel on 3 april, which was the first time any member of the royal family had opened something remotely. on 6 april, the duchess came out of self-isolation after showing no symptoms for 14 days. princes william and harry both sent messages out via social media in response to the pandemic on 19 march. the duke and duchess of cambridge supported a phe campaign to protect people's mental health. william remotely opened the nightingale hospital at the national exhibition centre on 16 april. prince william allowed land at kensington palace to be used for refuelling air ambulances. the duchess of cambridge launched a new initiative with the national portrait gallery called "hold still", to highlight heroes and helpers and acts of kindness. the royal foundation launched a mental health initiative called "our frontline". prince philip issued a rare statement on 20 april, in which he thanked key workers. the countess of wessex and princess eugenie helped charities in preparing and delivering food to nhs staff amidst the pandemic. sarah, duchess of york's foundation the sarah's trust helped with providing aid for nhs, care home and hospice staff by delivering more than 150,000 items, including food, masks, scrubs, and toiletries. the duke of cambridge also volunteered for the crisis helpline shout 85258, providing anonymous mental support via text message to people during the lockdown. further royal events in may and june were postponed or cancelled including princess beatrice's wedding. sociological research in march 2020, uk research and innovation announced the launch of a website to explain the scientific evidence and the facts about the virus, the disease, the epidemic, and its control, in a bid to dispel misinformation. the editorial team come from university of oxford, european bioinformatics institute, london school of hygiene & tropical medicine, imperial college london, university of glasgow and king's college london. research carried out by the reuters institute for the study of journalism at the university of oxford concluded that of 225 examples false or misleading claims about coronavirus 88% of the claims had appeared on social media platforms, with 9% of the claims on television and 8% in news outlets. one such claim about 5g mobile phone masts which began on social media, ended up with arson attacks on masts. a yougov survey for the institute concluded that 54% of the people polled thought that the uk government was doing a good job of responding to the pandemic. a quarter of those surveyed felt that the pandemic had been exaggerated by the media indicating that criticism could be eroding trust. an earlier sky news survey also concluded that people surveyed thought that the media were being overly critical of