Boris Johnson is facing fresh pressure over partygate after MPs said evidence strongly suggests breaches of coronavirus rules would have been “obvious” to the then-prime minister. The cross-party Privileges Committee said the Commons may have been misled at least four times, with MPs set to cross-examine Mr Johnson later this month.
The former prime minister offered a robust defence, as he claimed that the inquiry’s preliminary report showed he was being “vindicated” and he sought to cast doubt on civil service investigator Sue Gray’s own report into events in Downing Street following her move to Sir Keir Starmer’s office. According to the written evidence in the committee’s interim report, Mr Johnson remarked a mid-pandemic leaving party in No 10 was “probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now”.
WhatsApp messages given to the inquiry show advisers “struggling” with how parties were within the rules, with one conceding an excuse “blows another great gaping hole in the PM’s account”. The committee said: “The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings.
