Boris Johnson has said it was "right" for him to attend a Number 10 staffer's leaving do during the height of lockdown.
The Prime Minister, who only hours earlier had apologised for the raucous behaviour in Downing Street on his watch, justified toasting with colleagues while the rest of the nation was living under strict Covid rules.
Mr Johnson, facing journalists at a hastily arranged press conference this afternoon, said: "I was saying farewell to valued colleagues.
“I know that some people will think it was wrong to even do that. I have to say I respectfully disagree, I think it was right.
“When people who were working very hard, for very long hours, when they are giving up a huge amount to serve their country and they are moving on to some other part of government or leaving government service altogether, I think it is right to thank them."
Mr Johnson added: “ I appreciate that things didn’t go in the way I would have wanted. The events proceeded afterwards in a way I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to see."
A report into the Number 10 parties by civil servant Sue Gray, published today, found that "failures of leadership and judgment in Number 10 and the Cabinet Office" resulted in regular gatherings that were "not in line with Covid guidance at the time".
Ms Gray said there were "multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff" by those attending the gatherings.
Mr Johnson, responding to the mistreatment of staff, said: "What happened with the custodians and the cleaners was plainly utterly unacceptable and I apologise for that, as I have apologised to them personally.”
The Prime Minister declined to comment on the conduct of officials named in the Gray report, in particular senior civil servant Martin Reynolds boasting about the bring your own booze party.
Mr Johnson told a press conference: “I don’t want to comment on individuals who are named in the report. I don’t think it’s right for politicians to talk about officials in that way.”
He then appeared to say that he was not aware of the May 20 event being arranged by Mr Reynolds and his subsequent reference to “getting away with it”.
Ms Gray’s report says Mr Johnson appeared at the garden event for 30 minutes at 6pm to “thank staff” before heading into a meeting with Mr Reynolds. He did not return, she added.
“So I want to be clear, I didn’t know that,” he said.
“For instance, a lot of the stuff that I saw in the report this morning was news to me. But I think it’s important that everybody who has and everybody who hasn’t been there, everybody who’s in any way involved in this whole sorry business, has got to learn the lessons, and that applies to everybody in the report.”
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