Boris Johnson stands accused of personally attending a drinks party in the garden of No 10 during the first lockdown.
Downing Street did not immediately deny a report in the Sunday Times alleging that the Prime Minister attended the potentially rule-breaking event with wife Carrie in May 2020.
The newspaper cited three sources stating Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, emailed officials with an invite adding “BYOB”, meaning bring your own bottle, or booze.
Senior civil servant Sue Gray is investigating the May 20 event as part of her inquiry into numerous allegations of rule-breaking events being held in No 10 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Allegations of that gathering, said to have been attended by 40 people, emerged this week when Dominic Cummings said he had warned at the time the “socially distanced drinks” would likely be against the rules and “should not happen”.
But the front page report suggesting Mr Johnson himself was present will add to the seriousness of the claims.
The Prime Minister imposed England’s first lockdown to combat Covid-19 in March 2020 and it was not until June 1 that groups of up to six people were allowed to meet outdoors.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “The culture of total disregard for the rules seems to have been embedding into life in Downing Street from the very start of the pandemic.
“When much of the country was struggling with empty shelves and a total lockdown with no meeting with other allowed, it seems No 10 we’re hosting parties from the very start.
“Boris Johnson and his team are taking the country for fools. We need the report from Sue Gray’s independent investigation as soon as possible and Boris Johnson needs to face the consequences of his actions.”
Ms Gray, a senior Cabinet Office official, also expanded her investigation to the May 15 2020 garden gathering revealed by a leaked photo showing the Prime Minister and staff sat around cheese and wine.
Mr Cummings, who was present in the picture, insisted in a blog post on Friday that there was nothing “illegal or unethical” about that day, which he insisted was a staff meeting.
But the Vote Leave veteran, who departed as the chief adviser in Downing Street in November 2020, wrote: “On Wednesday 20 May, the week after this photo, a senior No 10 official invited people to ‘socially distanced drinks’ in the garden.”
Mr Cummings said he and at least one other special adviser “said that this seemed to be against the rules and should not happen”, adding that he issued the warning “in writing so Sue Gray can dig up the original email”.
“We were ignored. I was ill and went home to bed early that afternoon but am told this event definitely happened,” he continued.
No 10 and a spokeswoman for Mrs Johnson have both been asked to comment on the latest claim.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel