Boris Johnson has said he is sorry for his role in partygate and claimed he has been humbled by the scandal.
After the publication of the Sue Gray report, the Prime Minister said he takes “full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch”.
The Gray report, delayed by an investigation by the Metropolitan Police, revealed the scale of Downing Street parties at a time of Covid restrictions.
Gray, a senior civil servants, issued a damning report this morning into 16 events and criticised senior political leaders.
Over 100 fixed penalty notices have already been issued by the police, including one for the PM.
Making a statement in the House of Commons on the Gray report, Johnson said: “I want to begin today by renewing my apology to the House, to the whole country, for the short lunchtime gathering on June 19, 2020 in the Cabinet Room, during which I stood at my place at the Cabinet table and for which I received a fixed penalty notice.
“I also want to say above all that I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch. Sue Gray’s report has emphasised that it is up to the political leadership in Number 10 to take ultimate responsibility and, of course, I do.”
He added the Government had "learned" lessons, but urged people to "move on" and focus on priorities.
Johnson said staff were working “extremely long hours” and “doing their best” to help the country in the pandemic, adding: “I appreciate this is no mitigation but it’s important to set out.”
He added: “I’m trying to set out the context, not to mitigate or to absolve myself in any way.
“The exemption under which they were present in Downing Street includes those circumstances where officials and advisers were leaving the Government and it was appropriate to recognise and to thank them for the work they had done.
“I briefly attended such gatherings to thank them for their service, which I believe is one of the essential duties of leadership and particularly important when people need to feel that their contributions have been appreciated and to keep morale as high as possible.”
As he was heckled, the Prime Minister said: “I’m trying to explain the reasons I was there. It’s clear from what Sue Gray had to say that some of these gatherings then went on far longer than was necessary and they were clearly in breach of the rules and they fell foul of the rules.”
Johnson added: “I had no knowledge of the subsequent proceedings as I simply wasn’t there.”
In a shocking section of the report, Gray flagged that cleaning and security staff had been badly treated in relation to the events.
He said: “I have been as surprised and disappointed as anyone else in this House as the revelations have unfolded and, frankly, I have been appalled by some of the behaviour, particularly in the treatment of the security and the cleaning staff.
“And I’d like to apologise to those members of staff and I expect anyone who behaved in that way to apologise to them as well.”
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