Dramatic photos of the Boris Johnson toasting colleagues at illegal lockdown parties in Downing Street have emerged.
The photographs obtained by ITV News cast fresh doubt on the Prime Minister’s claims that he was unaware of rule-breaking in Downing Street during the pandemic.
The four images show Johnson raising a glass at a leaving party on November, 13, 2020, with bottles of booze and party food on the table in front of him.
In several of the “Fizzgate” photographs, Boris Johnson appears to be making a speech and raising a toast, with half a glass of fizz in his hands.
On a chair sits his red box, and on the table next to him are two bottles of champagne or cava, four bottles of wine and half a bottle of gin.
The pictures were reportedly taken at a gathering in honour of the Downing Street’s then Director of Communications Lee Cain, with eight people pictured standing closely together, as well as the photographer despite the rules at the time only allowing two people from different households to mix indoors.
The pictures are separate form the official Sue Gray report investigation into the rule-breaches at Downing Street which is due to be published this week.
The pictures cast fresh doubt on Boris Johnson’s repeated claims made in the House of Commons and elsewhere that all rules were followed in No 10 and that he had been unaware of any law-breaking parties.
On 1st December 2021, he told MPs “all guidance was followed completely in No 10.”
And on 8th December, he again told MPs, “I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”, before stating in a Downing Street press conference later that day that “all the evidence I can see is that people in this building have stayed within the rules.”
Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Deputy leader, said: "While the British public were making huge sacrifices, Boris Johnson was breaking the law.
“Boris Johnson said repeatedly that he knew nothing about law-breaking – there’s no doubt now, he lied. Boris Johnson made the rules, and then broke them.
“The Prime Minister has demeaned his office. The British people deserve better.
"While Labour has a plan for tackling the cost-of-living crisis, Tory MPs are too busy defending the indefensible actions of Boris Johnson.”
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