The Prime Minister joked with MPs tonight, hoping he had “got away with” the Partygate scandal despite shock revelations in Sue Gray’s report.
It gave shaming details of events where officials drank so much they were sick, sang karaoke and partied until 4.20am on the morning of Prince Philip ’s funeral.
They abused low-paid security staff who tried to break up the social gatherings and cleaners were left to scrub wine off the walls and clear up vomit.
At the time indoor socialising was banned, even at work, and millions were unable to see friends and family.
Yet despite telling MPs he had been “humbled” by the report, the Prime Minister claimed he had been “vindicated” and tried to brush the scandal aside.
He ordered the Chancellor to bring forward his cost of living support package in an attempt to move on from it all.
And he repeatedly failed to say how – or even whether – senior staff who organised and attended multiple illegal lockdown parties would be disciplined.
Civil service chief Simon Case looked likely to stay put despite resentment from junior civil servants made to carry the can. The mood among No10 staff was said to be “raging apoplexy” as all had been tainted by the scandal even if they did no wrong.
Grief-stricken families demanded the PM resign over the “raucous and savage behaviour” of those partying while the rest of the country stuck to the rules.
Safiah Ngah, who lost her father Zahari during the pandemic, said: “The Government is completely out of touch with what real people are experiencing.”
But the shameless PM told reporters: “I overwhelmingly feel it is my job to get on and deliver. No matter how bitter and painful that the conclusions of this may be...and no matter how humbling they are, I have got to keep moving forward and the Government has got to keep moving.”
One furious Tory MP told the Mirror: “He thinks he’s got away with it. He seems to have done so with MPs. But the public will never forget a man who partied whilst they obeyed all the rules”.
Three in five voters say the PM should resign, a snap YouGov poll claims. Some 74% believe he knowingly lied about breaking lockdown rules – including a majority of Tory voters.
Ms Gray’s report was highly critical of the culture in No10 which led to the repeated violations of Covid restrictions.
She said: “The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture.”
Noting that the public would be “dismayed” by the behaviour uncovered while they were making such huge sacrifices, she added: “The events I investigated were attended by leaders in government.
“Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen.”
The Met Police has issued 126 fines for rule breaches at the heart of government, with the PM receiving a single fixed-penalty notice for his birthday party. But Ms Gray condemned the wider culture that had been allowed to develop during his tenure.
Some more junior officials had believed the parties was “permitted” given the PM and senior civil servants were there.
Sources have told the Mirror the PM had “encouraged” staff to “let off steam” by partying during lockdown, sometimes even “grabbing a glass” himself.
Labour leader Keir Starmer accused the PM of focusing on “saving his own skin” while shifting blame on to junior officials.
He said: “When the dust settles and the anger subsides this report will stand as a monument to the hubris and arrogance of a Government that believed it was one rule for them and another for everyone else.”
Mr Johnson denied that he had asked the senior civil servant to drop her report at a private meeting earlier this month.
Downing Street also rejected claims that his political team had read it pre-publication and suggested editing the passage about a party in his flat.
Many Tory MPs were last night questioning whether they will be able to win the next election with Mr Johnson at the helm.
York MP Julian Sturdy became the latest to call on the PM to quit. He said: “This is clearly a time when we cannot have any doubt about the honesty, integrity and personal character of the PM.”
Tory backbenchers sharply deserted the Commons chamber when Mr Johnson attacked “Sir Beer Korma” over the Labour beergate row.
Army veteran John Baron MP said: “You serve to lead, and you lead by example.”
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who has previously called for the PM to go, urged Tory MPs to search their conscience.
He told them: “Are you willing day in and day out to defend this behaviour publicly?”
Former Cabinet Minister David Davis said that if Mr Johnson doesn’t quit then the Government will “have death of a thousand cuts”.
Mr Johnson still faces an inquiry by the Commons Privileges Committee into whether he deliberately misled Parliament.
Last night the PM tried to win over backbench MPs at a meeting of the 1922 Committee.
One MP said: “He said sorry and then reduced everything to a joke about tractors, drinking at work and the Second World War.
“Some laugh along, making us all the clowns in his circus.”
