Boris Johnson to face MPs for first time since receiving lockdown breach fine

Reports over the weekend suggested the Tory leader and his supporters were stunned by the charge, given that it had been a surprise party and that he’d attended for nine minutes.

Given the low bar for the charge, there’s now an expectation more fines could soon be on their way to No 10.

Mr Johnson is understood to have been present at six of at least 12 gatherings being investigated by the Met. They include the "bring your own booze" party in the Downing Street garden on 20 May 2020.

Yesterday, in another Partygate development, Downing Street was forced to deny that Mr Johnson had effectively “instigated” one of the gatherings being probed by the force.

The Times said a leaving do in November 2020 for Lee Cain, No 10’s former director of communications, was at first, the "usual Friday evening wash-up drinks".

But Mr Johnson "came fumbling over, red box in tow", and "gathered the staff around the press office table, which did have bottles of alcohol on it", they continued.

"He said he wanted to say a few words for Lee and started pouring drinks for people and drinking himself. He toasted him."

Mr Johnson then apparently returned to his flat above 11 Downing Street, where a second gathering involving his wife and her friends, celebrating the resignation of Dominic Cummings, is claimed to have taken place that same evening.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said that "if the latest reports are true", it means "not only did the prime minister attend parties, but he had a hand in instigating at least one of them".

No 10 said Mr Johnson had not organised the event and was not involved “until he arrived”.

In his statement to the Commons, as well as touching on the fixed penalty notices, the Prime Minister will attempt to show that it is business as usual. 

He will update MPs on the government’s new energy strategy, the cost of living crisis, the plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, and the war in Ukraine.

He will likely emphasise the closeness of his working relationship with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

However, the session will almost certainly be dominated by questions of trust and whether or not the Prime Minister misled MPs.

Initially, Mr Johnson said no rules had been broken, but he, his wife, Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, are among 50 people who have now been fined by police for breaking the rules.

The ministerial code is clear that ministers are expected to resign if they knowingly mislead parliament.

Mr Johnson has since said it "did not occur" to him that the birthday party was against Covid lockdown rules.

His allies argue that this was a short meeting during the working day, with people who were working closely around each other anyway.

The Times’ Tory source said the Prime Minister had accepted that “mistakes were made,” but added: “If you’re going from meeting to meeting and it’s something at 2pm in the afternoon, people wouldn’t particularly call that a party. You don’t tend to call that a party.

“If you go to something where you’re giving a speech, you’re not partying, so from his point of view, it’s his place of work, going to events in a work capacity, that’s the context in which these events happened. "

The opposition parties are expected to push for a vote to refer the Prime Minister to the privileges committee which can investigate whether he misled MPs.

Mr Johnson is also set to address the 1922 committee, where he’ll try and reassure his backbenchers ahead of the local elections.

The scale of the problem for the party was laid bare yesterday, in a poll, conducted by J L Partners, which asked almost 2,000 people to give their view of the prime minister in a few words.

The most common word used was “liar”.