Here’s a round up of the key developments of the day:
- New photos have emerged of Boris Johnson raising a glass of wine in front of a table strewn with bottles at the leaving do of a senior aide – an event for which the Metropolitan police decided not to issue the prime minister with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN). Others who attended the leaving do were handed FPNs during the Met’s investigation, and the images will raise new questions about why Johnson escaped sanction. The pictures were obtained by ITV News.
- Questions are being raised about whether the photos prove Johnson lied at the dispatch box. On 8 December last year the Labour MP Catherine West specifically asked Boris Johnson at PMQs if there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November [2020]. Johnson replied: “No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”
- Labour says the new photographs prove beyond doubt that Boris Johnson lied to MPs. This is from Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader: “While the British public were making huge sacrifices, Boris Johnson was breaking the law.”
- The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been urged to investigate why Boris Johnson was not fined for the event at which he was pictured apparently raising a toast and drinking sparkling wine. The Lib Dem deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, has written to IOPC director general Michael Lockwood about the issue.
- No 10 has played down the significance of the new Partygate photographs, arguing that the Met police had access to photographs when it carried out its investigation.
- Lord Brian Paddick, a former Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner, has told Andrew Marr that the Met “didn’t want to upset” No 10 over Partygate and has compared the situation to the phone hacking scandal.
- The former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson said it was clear Boris Johnson had lied to parliament and that his position was untenable.
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The Met’s decision-making process during the Operation Hillman inquiry into events in No 10 and Whitehall has been questioned by lawyers, with the Good Law Project’s Jolyon Maugham suggesting he would take legal action.
- Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said publication of the Sue Gray report was being held up by a debate about who to name, and whether photographs would be included. He said the “extraordinary pressure” that No 10 staff were under during the pandemic helped to explain why the Partygate lockdown breaches happened.
- The PM’s spokesperson admitted that Downing Street instigated the meeting between Boris Johnson and Sue Gray that took place a few weeks ago. This came after Simon Clarke wrongly claimed earlier in the day that Gray had been the one to instigate it.
- Boris Johnson “pressurised Sue Gray to drop” her report into Partygate during a secret meeting earlier this month, The Times is reporting. A source told the paper that the prime minister asked if there was “much point” of publishing the report given that “it’s all out there”.
- Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser who is now determined to be his nemesis, posted about Partygate on his subscription-only Substack account this morning. He correctly predicted that pictures would start to emerge. Among other things, he said Johnson attended a second birthday party in 2020, as well as the one for which he was fined, that has not been reported.
- Johnson said that he was not “intrinsically” in favour of new taxes, but that a windfall tax was not off the table. Asked about the increasing clamour (particularly within his own party) for a windfall tax, he replied: “I’m not attracted, intrinsically, to new taxes. But as I have said throughout, we have got to do what we can - and we will - to look after people.”
- Simon Clarke rejected claims that Rishi Sunak’s wealth meant he was not suited to be chancellor when asked about the revelation that Sunak’s family is now on the Sunday Times rich list, and that he is three times as wealthy as Ed Sheeran.
- Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, may be anxious to get workers back into the office, but a large number of Britons like working from home, figures from the Office for National Statistics out this morning suggest. They show that almost a quarter of employees now describe themselves as hybrid workers – working partly in the office, and partly at home.
- Boris Johnson has been urged by a Commons committee to issue 11 corrections relating to occasions when he falsely claimed employment is higher now than it was before the pandemic.
That’s it for tonight. Thanks so much for joining us today. Our Ukraine liveblog is still going. You can follow along here:
Updated
Tory MP Peter Bone has said on Newsnight that Boris Johnson and the Met police believe the party was not in fact a party but a work event.
Bone said:
I think we can all agree it was a work event.
Tory MP Peter Bone on Newsnight: “the Prime Minister thought it was a works event. The Met Police thought it was a works event. Therefore it was a works event…unless you’re going to say that the Met isn’t telling the truth and PM not telling the truth, it wasn’t a party.” https://t.co/0bQ9egwdBr
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 23, 2022
Updated
Boris Johnson “pressurised Sue Gray to drop” her report into Partygate during a secret meeting earlier this month, The Times is reporting.
A source told the paper that the prime minister asked if there was “much point” in publishing the report given that “it’s all out there”.
On Monday Downing Street was forced to confirm that the meeting between Johnson and Gray, the civil servant leading an inquiry into Partygate, was instigated by No 10 and not Gray, contradicting the account of a senior minister.
Exclusive with @oliver_wright
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) May 23, 2022
Boris Johnson suggested Sue Gray should drop her full report given police investigation during secret meeting earlier this month, Times told
He is said to have asked her if there was much point in publishing it given that ‘it’s all out there’ https://t.co/Zv3sYHcl5I
Updated
Dan Hodges of the Mail on Sunday points out that Boris Johnson will have to explain how he could have not realised he was at a party when he was surrounded by people drinking alcohol.
Can we just be clear. The issue is no longer whether Boris broke the law. Or if he thought he’d broken the law. It’s about whether he seriously stood in the middle of a leaving party, with booze cluttering every surface, raised a glass and thought “this is not a leaving party”.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) May 23, 2022
Full story: Latest Boris Johnson photos bring Partygate scandal back into focus
Over the almost six months of Partygate, the same narrative has played out repeatedly: just as Boris Johnson seems to have put the saga behind him, new images emerge to refocus everyone’s minds, with a corrosive effect on the prime minister’s image and ratings.
Last Thursday when the Metropolitan police inquiry formally closed with just one fine for Johnson, Conservative MPs were exchanging admiring – or in some cases exasperated – messages about how the “greased piglet” had slipped free yet again.
There was still the full report to come from the senior civil servant Sue Gray. But supporters of the prime minister were clear – a single fine for a brief appearance at an impromptu birthday celebration did not merit a leadership challenge. Time to move on.
The Daily Mail headline on Friday shouted: “What a farcical waste of time and £460,000.”
Just three days on, photos showing Johnson in a packed room raising his glass and making a speech during the leaving drinks of the former communications chief Lee Cain on 13 November 2020 make the prime minister’s life difficult again in several interconnected ways.
Even after Gray submits her report, Johnson faces an inquiry by a committee of MPs into whether he misled the Commons when he said he knew nothing about social gatherings – an offence which, if demonstrated, would normally lead to resignation.
The photos notably weaken Johnson’s defence, not least given a parliamentary exchange from last December in which the prime minister, when asked by the Labour MP Catherine West about events on the date in question, insisted “the rules were followed at all times”.
More widely, photos and other images seem to resonate with voters in a way that even repeated descriptions of suitcases of alcohol being wheeled into No 10, and Wilfred Johnson’s swing broken by drunken revellers, do not.
Read more here:
A spokesperson for London mayor Sadiq Khan said the final report of Sue Gray – the senior civil servant investigating lockdown violations in Whitehall – must be published in full.
The spokesperson said:
The mayor has always been clear that nobody is above the law and that those who broke the rules, at a time the public were being asked to make huge sacrifices, must be held accountable for their actions.
The mayor understands why Londoners are seeking clarity given these latest revelations. The details of the investigation are a matter for the Met Police and it would be wrong for the mayor – who oversees the Met as police and crime commissioner for London – to intervene in an inquiry investigating his political opponents.
Updated
Here’s a reminder of what some people who followed the rules lost out on while Boris Johnson was photographed drinking sparkling wine:
This is appalling. This is the night my mum died suddenly. I couldn’t visit my shocked and grieving dad that night/weekend because the rules prohibited it. I couldn’t go back to his house after her funeral. Angry doesn’t even begin to explain how I feel. https://t.co/NjoZcImoWQ
— Sussex Gardener (@TheSussexGarden) May 23, 2022
The Tory MP Sir Roger Gale told Times Radio “there is one answer” when a prime minister misleads parliament from the despatch box.
He said:
It’s absolutely clear that there was a party, that he attended it, that he was raising a toast to glass one of his colleagues.
And therefore, he misled us from the despatch box. And, honourably, there is one answer.
He also said:
We have to have somebody at the helm that we can really rely on, and whose word we can rely on. That doesn’t appear to me to be Mr Johnson.
Paul Brand of ITV News has called Gale’s comments the “first demand for a resignation from Tory MPs over latest Partygate pics”.
NEW: First demand for a resignation from Tory MPs over latest partygate pics.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) May 23, 2022
Roger Gale tells @TimesRadio the photos are "damning" and "we have to have somebody at the helm that we can really rely o, and whose word we can rely on. That doesn't appear to me to be Mr. Johnson."
Updated
The Met’s decision-making process during Operation Hillman inquiry into events in No 10 and Whitehall has been questioned by lawyers, with the Good Law Project’s Jolyon Maugham suggesting he would take legal action.
He said:
We have now had advice from our QC and junior.
We will be sending a further judicial review pre-action protocol letter to the Met in relation to the apparent failures in its investigation into the Prime Minister later this week.
Adam Wagner, a barrister and the author of a forthcoming book on the coronavirus laws, said that at the time of the November 13 event “it was illegal to ‘participate’ in a gathering if that gathering was not reasonably necessary for work”.
He said:
Others got FPNs for this gathering so assume police considered it was illegal Why not the PM?
He added it is “impossible to understand how attending, raising a glass and making a speech wouldn’t be ‘participating”’.
Meanwhile, the police watchdog has been urged to investigate Scotland Yard’s handling of the partygate investigation
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper writing to Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) calling for them to examine the Met’s Operation Hillman inquiry.
However, the IOPC is unlikely to agree to her request as most complaints should be directed to the force responsible, with the watchdog usually only considering the most serious cases, such as those involving a death or serious injury following contact with the police, PA News reports.
Cooper’s request could also be ineligible because complaints can only be made by someone who has directly witnessed an incident or is directly affected by it.
The former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson said it was clear Boris Johnson had lied to parliament and that his position was untenable.
She told Channel 4 News:
There is now photographic evidence that when the prime minister stood up in parliament and was asked directly was there a party in No 10 on this date and he replied ‘no’, he lied to parliament.
I don’t think his job is tenable and his position is tenable. The office of prime minister should be above being traduced by the person who holds it.
Updated
'The Met didn't want to upset No. 10,' says Lord Paddick over Partygate
Lord Brian Paddick, a former Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner, has told Andrew Marr that the Met “didn’t want to upset” Np 10 over Partygate and has compared the situation to the phone hacking scandal.
He told Marr on his LBC show:
We had the same situation with the phone hacking scandal, where the Met said there was nothing to see here, the Guardian continued to press with that particular issue, and eventually the Met expanded the investigation massively, and prosecutions resulted. And we’ve got a rerun of the same thing, where questions are going to be asked: why was the Met not looking into this? Why did the Met not prosecute the prime minister in these circumstances?
It’s very damaging for the Met when the public see these photographs, and the Met seem unable to provide an explanation as to why. Because members of the public will think well, if I was caught in a photograph like that, I would expect to be fined. And the Met need to explain why the prime minister was not.
The Met, I think, did not investigate phone hacking because they didn’t want to upset their friends in the media. And I think that they may not have investigated this as thoroughly as they could have done because they didn’t want to upset No 10.
Updated
Here are some clearer images of the photos obtained by ITV News of the party on 13 November 2020, which the prime minister previously denied had taken place.
Here’s some close ups of the table showing the alcohol options, which included wine and gin.
Peter Bone has told Times Radio that the photos obtained by ITV News of the PM attending an event in No 10 don’t show a party.
The Conservative MP told John Pienaar:
I don’t think it looks like that at all.
He added that:
The police had seen these photographs as well. So I’m happy to accept the police’s verdict on it. But we’ve still got to wait for the Sue Gray report.
Updated
A source who attended the event that Boris Johnson is pictured at in the ITV Partygate photos has told Chris Mason of the BBC that the prime minister was at the event for 10 minutes before leaving.
Of course, the rules at the time of the party didn’t stipulate you could attend a party if it was only for 10 minutes and this doesn’t explain his response when he was specifically asked during PMQs about whether there was a party.
Our @ChrisMasonBBC says he’s learned few things about pic of gathering exposed by @itvnews: PM instigated it. PM was there for 10 mins and then left. Someone who attended has been fined.
— Sima Kotecha (@sima_kotecha) May 23, 2022
Chris says he was told the above by someone who was at the leaving do ..
— Sima Kotecha (@sima_kotecha) May 23, 2022
On 8 December last year the Labour MP Catherine West asked Johnson in the House of Commons if there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November. She was referring to 13 November 2020. Johnson replied:
No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been urged to investigate why Boris Johnson was not fined for the event at which he was pictured apparently raising a toast and drinking sparkling wine.
The Lib Dem deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, has written to IOPC director general Michael Lockwood about the issue after photographs obtained by ITV News were published.
The prime minister received a fixed-penalty notice (FPN) over a birthday party in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 but was told he would face no further action over other gatherings covered by the Metropolitan police’s Operation Hillman inquiry.
Cooper said:
The Metropolitan police has so far failed to offer any statement of clarification regarding their decision-making process.
They have not set out the evidential thresholds which they used to determine whether FPNs should be issued.
The result of this lack of transparency is that the release of photographs such as that of the prime minister drinking in Downing Street, on an occasion for which he was not fined, will likely create considerable public confusion.
In particular, it is hard to understand why some individuals, in particular more junior members of staff, who attended the same gatherings as the prime minister received questionnaires and FPNs, while the prime minister did not.
She urged the IOPC to investigate Operation Hillman “and establish the process by which the Metropolitan police reached their conclusions on breaches of coronavirus regulations”.
Updated
Continued scrutiny over lockdown parties held in Downing Street are a reminder that “politicians are servants of the people,” a senior Conservative MP has said.
Jeremy Hunt told PM on Radio 4 that “politicians are being held to account” over the allegations in “excruciating detail”.
He told the programme he had not seen the latest photos published by ITV News, which reportedly show the prime minister drinking with officials in Downing Street.
The former foreign secretary said:
I think it is dangerous to comment on a photograph if you haven’t seen the context of the report that it goes out with.
Hunt said the investigations were “incredibly uncomfortable for the prime minister”.
He added:
I have things that happened when I was health secretary and foreign secretary which were talked about, and which were uncomfortable for me as well.
So I think this is the week where we are reminding people that politicians are servants of the people.
Updated
The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has responded to the ITV Partygate photographs. He hasn’t called on Boris Johnson to resign but said the prime minister needs to explain why he believes the behaviour was acceptable.
He said:
These images will rightly make people across the country very angry.
The prime minister must outline why he believes this behaviour was acceptable. To most, these pictures seem unjustifiable and wrong.
Updated
Full story: Photos show Boris Johnson with glass of wine at No 10 party he was not fined for
New photos have emerged of Boris Johnson raising a glass of wine in front of a table strewn with bottles at the leaving do of a senior aide – an event for which the Metropolitan police decided not to issue the prime minister with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN).
Others who attended the leaving do were handed FPNs during the Met’s investigation, and the images will raise new questions about why Johnson escaped sanction.
The photos obtained by ITV News show Johnson holding a glass of wine as others raise their glasses, as well as appearing to give a speech. The event on 13 November 2020 was to mark the departure of his head of communications, Lee Cain.
Johnson has denied in the House of Commons that an event took place on that date. Asked by the MP Catherine West “whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November”, Johnson replied at the time: “Mr Speaker, no. But I’m sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”
In the photos, Johnson appears to be giving a speech to assembled aides, with his ministerial red box on the chair beside him, next to bottles of fizz and empty glasses.
A No 10 spokesperson suggested police had access to the photos. “The Cabinet Office and the Met police have had access to all information relevant to their investigations, including photographs,” the spokesperson said. “The Met have concluded their investigation and Sue Gray will publish her report in the coming days, at which point the prime minister will address parliament in full.”
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said it was clear Johnson had lied about the event. “While the British public were making huge sacrifices, Boris Johnson was breaking the law,” she said. “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.”
Earlier on Monday the prime minister’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings said photos would contradict the accounts of Partygate given by Johnson to police and parliament.
Read more here:
Steve Baker, a Tory MP, has shared a government and NHS campaign poster urging people to obey the rules, seemingly making a pointed comment about Partygate.
The image shows a woman breathing through an oxygen mask and says: “Look into her eyes and tell her you never bend the rules.”
He has not added a comment to the image in the tweet.
In April, the former minister called for Boris Johnson to quit for failing to obey his own Covid rules during Partygate, telling him “the gig’s up”.
— Steve Baker MP FRSA 🗽 (@SteveBakerHW) May 23, 2022
Updated
Tom Hamilton, a former Labour adviser and co-author of a good book on PMQs (he used to help prepare Ed Milband for the weekly sessions) argues that Boris Johnson could defend his “No” to Catherine West about the 13 November party (see 4.36pm) on the grounds that he was saying no to ‘Could he tell the house?’ bit, not to the ‘Was there a party?’ bit. But he admits this will be a minority view.
Boris Johnson’s defence against misleading the House here is that the “No” relates to the “Can the PM tell us?” bit of the question rather than to the “Was there a party?” bit of the question. I - genuinely - believe this defence, but I suspect I am in a minority. https://t.co/QES4XL3Pa2
— Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) May 23, 2022
That is all from me for today. My colleague Nicola Slawson is taking over now.
Updated
In its statement last week announcing the end of the Partygate investigation the Metropolitan police revealed that at least one fine was issued in relation to an event in Downing Street on 13 November 2020 – when Boris Johnson was photographed drinking at Lee Cain’s leaving do. There may have been more than one fine; the Met did not say how many fines were issued in connection with any particular event.
But there were two events investigated in Downing Street on 13 November: the Lee Cain leaving drinks, and a gathering in the Downing Street flat where Carrie Johnson, the PM’s wife, was reportedly celebrating the departure of Cain and Dominic Cummings with No 10 advisers who are her friends. Abba music was being played loudly, it has been claimed.
The Met did not say which of the two events triggered the fine or fines. But it is understood that some who attended the Cain leaving do were fined. And Carrie Johnson has not been fined over the gathering in the flat, and her husband was not fined in connection with either event. According to one report, Carrie Johnson told police she and her friends were holding a “strategy meeting”.
But the Met did say the fine or fines issued for 13 November were under regulation 8 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020, which imposed restrictions on indoor gatherings of two or more people.
Updated
The SNP has urged Tory MPs to “do the decent thing” and get rid of Boris Johnson. This is from Ian Blackford, the party’s leader at Westminster.
These pictures clearly show, as the police investigation concluded, that parties did indeed take place at Downing Street during lockdown, and that the prime minister was there. It is sickening.
Boris Johnson told us firstly that no parties took place during lockdown, then he said he wasn’t at them and that he was angry about them. He is a serial liar and cannot be allowed to get away with it.
It is truly a disgrace that Tory MPs are keeping him in Downing Street – he demeans the office that he holds. It is time for them to do the decent thing, for once, and get rid of him. This charlatan should be an ex-prime minister by now.
Updated
Here are some tweets from opposition MPs responding to the ITV Partygate photographs.
From David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary
According to the Prime Minister, he was ‘unaware’ of 5 bottles of wine and an empty bottle of spirits.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) May 23, 2022
He has broken the rules, disgraced the office and taken us all for fools.
He should do the right thing and resign. pic.twitter.com/CvQh8eeSfO
From Jo Stevens, the shadow Welsh secretary
I met a lady in #Wakefield this morning whose partner had died in December 2020 and whose birthday it would have been today. She is still grieving and still very very angry with @BorisJohnson Those Tory MPs saying people “aren’t bothered” about his law breaking anymore are wrong https://t.co/SyMVNEICmT
— Jo Stevens (@JoStevensLabour) May 23, 2022
From Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary
Boris Johnson told Parliament that there were no parties at Number 10 and the rules were followed at all times. Pictures released today proves that was a blatant lie #ToriesPartiedWhilePeopleDied #BorisJohnsonOut
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) May 23, 2022
From the SNP’s Anum Qaisar
Alcohol on the table… yet apparently Boris didn’t break the rules.
— Anum Qaisar MP (@AnumSNP) May 23, 2022
Parliament may have procedure - but Boris should come to House of Commons - apologise and resign.
He’s lied and lied, yet is still in power.
What a bloody disgrace.https://t.co/OPI4n5wHr5
From Labour’s Jon Trickett
Caught red handed https://t.co/aRs0EK4u2K
— Jon Trickett MP (@jon_trickett) May 23, 2022
From the Lib Dems’ Helen Morgan
The lies and the cover-up are often even worse than the crime. How can he possibly have believed that all the rules were followed? A decent man would resign. https://t.co/zq9XUjlYc2
— Helen Morgan MP 🔶 (@HelenMorganMP) May 23, 2022
From Preet Kaur Gill, shadow international development secretary
As much as the PM and his cabinet will have you believe that no rules were broken or even any parties attended. Here is evidence that the PM lied to Parliament and the British Public. He must go! https://t.co/lwAkLimymw
— Preet Kaur Gill MP (@PreetKGillMP) May 23, 2022
This is from my colleague Jessica Elgot.
Feels untenable for the Met Police not to provide any explanation at all why this does not constitute a breach. Not sure public interest is being served by stonewalling all explanation of the decision-making. https://t.co/oyV9WyKh94
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) May 23, 2022
The Mirror’s Pippa Crerar says we will be hearing from the acting Met commissioner, Stephen House, later this week.
I bet Acting Met Commissioner Stephen House is really looking forward to his appearance in front of the London Assembly police & crime committee on Partygate at 10am this Thursday... https://t.co/UkF3QWRip1
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) May 23, 2022
Labour says there's 'no doubt now' Johnson lied about Partygate
Labour says the new photographs prove beyond doubt that Boris Johnson lied to MPs. This is from Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader.
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.
Here are the three other pictures obtained by ITV. They all show Boris Johnson drinking at Lee Cain’s leaving do on 13 November 2020.
This certainly looks like a proper leaving drinks do, but Johnson’s defence may hinge on the definition of a party. Lee Cain, the PM’s director of communications, and Dominic Cummings, his chief adviser, both left No 10 on the same day (13 November). Although their position had become increasingly precarious, they did not arrive at work that morning knowing it was going to be their final day, and Cain did not organise a specific do. Instead, it has been claimed by sources who were there that people in the press office often had a drink at the end of the week and that on this occasion, when Johnson arrived to say goodbye to Cain, the event became more convivial.
Updated
How Johnson told MPs there was no party in No 10 on 13 November - the day he was pictured drinking at leaving do
On 8 December last year the Labour MP Catherine West specifically asked Boris Johnson at PMQs if there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November. She was referring to 13 November 2020. Johnson replied:
No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.
“Can the prime minister tell the House whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November?” asks Labour’s Catherine West
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 8, 2021
“No, but I’m sure whatever happened the guidance... and the rules were followed at all times,” says the PM
⁰#PMQs https://t.co/sPXyCwRMtj pic.twitter.com/GDuUAPIRHH
Updated
No 10 plays down significance of pictures showing PM drinking at No 10 leaving do
No 10 has played down the significance of the new Partygate photographs, arguing that the Met police had access to photographs when it carried out its investigation. A No 10 spokesperson said:
The Cabinet Office and the Met police have had access to all information relevant to their investigations, including photographs. The Met have concluded their investigation and Sue Gray will publish her report in the coming days, at which point the prime minister will address parliament in full.
Updated
This is what Boris Johnson told MPs on 8 December last year after ITV broadcast a clip of Allegra Stratton joking about a Christmas party that took place in Downing Street in December 2020.
May I begin by saying that I understand and share the anger up and down the country at seeing No 10 staff seeming to make light of lockdown measures? I can understand how infuriating it must be to think that the people who have been setting the rules have not been following the rules, because I was also furious to see that clip. I apologise unreservedly for the offence that it has caused up and down the country, and I apologise for the impression that it gives.
Updated
Pictures released showing PM drinking at No 10 leaving do during lockdown in November 2020
ITV News’ Paul Brand has obtained photographs of Boris Johnson drinking at a Downing Street event that looks very much like a party.
The pictures were taken at a leaving do for Lee Cain, the PM’s director of communications, on 13 November 2020.
The images will fuel claims that Johnson was lying when he told MPs more than a year later that all the Covid guidance was followed in Downing Street and that people abided by the rules.
EXCL: @ITVNews has obtained pictures of Boris Johnson drinking at a No10 party during lockdown in November 2020.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) May 23, 2022
The photos cast fresh doubt on the PM's repeated claims he was unaware of rule-breaking in No10 during the pandemic.
See all images here:https://t.co/sUJiWpxqmm pic.twitter.com/iXopuPIQu7
Updated
PM told by Commons committee to issue 11 corrections over wrongly claiming employment higher now than before Covid
Boris Johnson has been urged by a Commons committee to issue 11 corrections relating to occasions when he falsely claimed employment is higher now than it was before the pandemic.
The chair of the Commons liaison committee, Sir Bernard Jenkin, issued the effective rebuke to the prime minister after a session in March when Johnson wrongly claimed that he had already corrected the record.
The number of people in payroll employment – working for a company – is higher now than it was before the pandemic. But total employment is lower, because there has been a large fall in the number of people are who self-employed. But this has not stopped Johnson repeatedly telling MPs that overall employment is higher – despite this error being pointed out to him more than once by statistic experts.
In evidence to the committee in March, when asked about this, Johnson said that he thought No 10 had already corrected the record.
In a letter released today, responding to a letter from Johnson following up on points raised during the hearing, Jenkin says Johnson has still not said what he has done to correct the record on this point. He identifies 11 references in Hansard to Johnson telling MPs employment is higher now than before the pandemic. Jenkin goes on:
I would be grateful if you could send the committee a copy of these corrections, once they have been made.
The liaison committee is often seen as the most senior of the Commons committee because its membership comprises the chairs of all select committees.
Updated
The Financial Times has published a lovely interview with Peter Hennessy, the crossbench peer and historian who is credited with (among many other things) coining the “good chap” theory of government – the notion that the constitution depends on the assumption that leaders will behave decently. Henry Mance, who interviewed Hennessy, writes:
But Boris Johnson doesn’t accept the limits. He has overridden the advice of his ethics adviser and the House of Lords appointments commission; he has refused to resign despite allegations of misleading parliament. “If the prime minister is the number one wrong ’un, you’re in deep, deep trouble. It’s shown us the fragility of our constitution,” says Hennessy, whose former students include Simon Case, now head of the civil service.
Johnson seems to be the only subject that makes Hennessy visibly angry. “He is the greatest trouble to the good chap system of any prime minister that I’ve observed,” he says. “Anthony Eden lied to parliament about the collusion with Israel [in the 1956 Suez crisis], but in his defence he felt he had to do that because it was overwhelmingly important for the state. But Boris does it, you get the impression in the bad weeks, almost daily.” It has led to “a bonfire of the decencies”.
Updated
Complaints relating to Susanna Reid’s recent interview with Boris Johnson on Good Morning Britain have been assessed but will not be pursued, PA Media reports. PA says:
Some 98 complaints, relating to due impartiality, were received by the media watchdog about the interview on ITV which saw Reid challenge the prime minister on a broad range of subjects, notably the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
The interview, broadcast from 10 Downing Street on 3 May, also saw Reid ask the Tory leader why he would not resign over the partygate scandal, breaking the law and following accusations that he misled parliament.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We assessed complaints about this interview with the prime minister. We found he was given sufficient opportunity to put across the government’s position, and the strong line of questioning was in keeping with regular viewers’ expectations of interviews with political figures on this programme.”
Britons used to working from home during Covid don't want to return to office full-time, ONS says
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, may be anxious to get workers back into the office, but a large number of Britons like working from home, figures from the Office for National Statistics out this morning suggest. They show that almost a quarter of employees now describe themselves as hybrid workers – working partly in the office, and partly at home. The ONS says:
Most people who took up homeworking because of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic plan to both work from home and in the workplace (“hybrid work”) in the future, according to data from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).
Workers were asked about their future plans in February 2022, after government guidance to work from home when possible was lifted in England and Scotland. More than 8 in 10 workers who had to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic said they planned to hybrid work.
Since then, the proportion of workers hybrid working has risen from 13% in early February 2022 to 24% in May 2022. The percentage working exclusively from home has fallen from 22% to 14% in the same period.
The report also says that, amongst people who had to work from home during lockdown, the proportion now planning to spend more of their time working from home in the future has gone up.
In February 2022, 84% of workers who had to work from home because of the coronavirus pandemic said they planned to carry out a mix of working at home and in their place of work in the future.
While the proportion of workers who planned to hybrid work at all has not changed much since April 2021, that hybrid working pattern has shifted more in favour of spending most working hours at home.
In February 2022, the most common hybrid working pattern that workers planned to use was working mostly from home, and sometimes from their usual place of work. 42% reported this, which is an increase from 30% in April 2021. Meanwhile, the proportion who planned to split their time equally between work and home, or work mostly from their place of work and occasionally from home, has fallen.
The proportion who planned to return to their place of work permanently fell from 11% in April 2021 to 8% in February 2022.
The ONS also says that hybrid working is particularly popular with higher earners. Almost two-thirds of people earning more than £40,000 a year work either wholly (23%) or partly (38%) at home.
This makes the Tory campaign against working from home all the more peculiar. It is not just Rees-Mogg; Boris Johnson told the Daily Mail recently that people who work from home are likely to spend too much time raiding the fridge. He said:
My experience of working from home is you spend an awful lot of time making another cup of coffee and then, you know, getting up, walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back to your laptop and then forgetting what it was you’re doing.
Yet there was a time when people earning more than £40,000 a year would have been seen as core Tory voters – to be courted by the party, not insulted as workshy.
Updated
Starmer criticises PM over meeting with Sue Gray ahead of publication of Partygate report
Keir Starmer gave an interview to the media today while he was on a visit to a Sainsbury’s store in London where he met customers and staff. Here are the key points.
- Starmer claimed that the revelation that Boris Johnson had had a secret meeting with Sue Gray about the Partygate report was a “new low” for the government. He said:
I always had a concern that as we got to the publication of the Sue Gray report, there will be attempts by the government to undermine her and undermine the report. That’s what we’ve seen going on over the weekend in recent days, a new low for the government.
- He said that Johnson should take responsibility for what happened at No 10 over Partygate – but that he probably wouldn’t. Starmer said:
The culture is set at the top, the can should be carried by the prime minister. He has responsibility. I doubt he will, because he doesn’t take responsibility for anything he’s done in his life. But the culture in Downing Street is set from the top, as it is with any organisation, and that culture has led to industrial-scale law-breaking.
- He accused the government of “dithering” over providing help to people with the cost of living. He said:
Here in Sainsbury’s, both staff and customers have been talking about the cost of living and the prices that they can’t afford. Part of the answer is staring the prime minister in the face and that’s Labour’s plan for windfall tax on oil and gas companies and using that money directly to reduce bills by up to £600 for those who need it most.
But what’s the government doing? It’s dithering, it’s delaying. Last week they voted against a windfall tax, now they’re saying they’re looking at windfall tax.
They need to get a grip on this situation, because every day they dither and delay, more people are struggling, really struggling, with their bills.
Updated
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said a UK Foreign Office official witnessed her signing a letter of false confession to the Iranian government as part of the last-minute terms of her release in March, my colleague Patrick Wintour reports.
Updated
No 10 says it won't release minutes of meeting between Johnson and Sue Gray
And here is a full summary of the lines from the Downing Street lobby briefing.
- The PM’s spokesperson admitted that Downing Street instigated the meeting between Boris Johnson and Sue Gray that took place a few weeks ago. (See 12.30pm.) The spokesperson said:
The formal, technical meeting request came through from Sue Gray, but it was originally suggested by officials in No 10 that it may be something that she might want to consider.
Asked why the meeting was needed, the spokesperson said:
As you would expect for reports like this, it is understandable that there would be a need to share information on things like timings and publication process because obviously there is a process for No 10 and the prime minister that would flow off the back of Sue Gray completing her report. So that then helps with our planning purposes and things like that.
- The spokesperson said there are minutes of the meeting, but that they won’t be released. “It was a private meeting,” he said. “We wouldn’t publish details of a private meeting.” The Lib Dems have today tabled a “humble address” motion which, if passed, would force the government to publish those minutes. But the party does not have a mechanism for getting it debated because the Labour party gets to chose the motion for the next opposition day debate. The Lib Dems say they are trying to persuade Labour to adopt their idea.
- The spokesperson rejected suggestions that the meeting compromised the independence of the Gray report. Gray could decide what meetings she attended, the spokesperson said. He also said that Gray and Johnson had met around the time her interim report was published. He went on:
Again, I point you to the coverage of the interim report which certainly didn’t suggest a lack of independence. And I think it is then for the public to judge following the conclusion and publication of the report itself.
- The spokesperson said Johnson has not yet received the Gray report.
- The spokesperson said Johnson does not believe Gray is “playing politics” with the report, as some reports have claimed. (See 9.24am.) Asked if that was what the PM thought, the spokeperson just said: “No.”
- The spokesperson would not comment on Dominic Cummings’ claim that photographs may soon be published that show Johnson lied to MPs when he said he was not aware of parties taking place at Downing Street. (See 11.49am.)
- The spokesperson would not comment on suggestions that Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, might be disciplined following the publication of the Sue Gray report. That was a “hypothetical situation”, the spokesperson said. In the Observer yesterday Toby Helm said Case was being lined up as the scapegoat for the whole affair.
- The spokesperson would not comment on the decision by Canada to impose sanctions on Alexander Lebedev, the former KGB agent turned billionaire whose son, Evgeny, was given a peerage by Johnson. The spokesperson said “it’s not for me to comment on the judgment of a different country”. But the UK has taken significant acton against President Putin’s inner circle, the spokespersons said.
- The spokesperson did not deny reports saying Johnson is backing Bernard Hogan-Howe, the former Met commissioner, to lead the National Crime Agency. It was reported in the Sunday Times yesterday two well-qualified officers have been turned down for the job, but that Hogan-Howe is still in the running, despite originally failing to make the final shortlist. The spokesperson said he had seen the “speculation” about Hogan-Howe, and that it would not be appropriate to comment. Hogan-Howe ran the Met while Johnson was London mayor, and the two have a good relationship. The spokesperson also admitted Johnson had “no formal role” in the process for the appointment of a new head of the NCA.
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No 10 admits that Downing Street originally instigated meeting between Sue Gray and PM
This morning Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury who was doing the morning interview round on behalf of the government, said he thought Sue Gray had instigated the meeting with Boris Johnson a few weeks ago at which the Partygate report was discussed. (See 9.22am.)
But at the lobby briefing today the PM’s spokesperson admitted that Downing Street had instigated the meeting. He said earlier this month there had been contact, at official level, between No 10 and Gray’s team to discuss a meeting. Asked who suggested the meeting, he replied: “No 10 officials.”
But, following that discussion, Gray’s office “sent through a technical request for a meeting”, the spokesperson said.
He stressed that the meeting was not requested by the PM.
Asked why Clarke had said the meeting was instigated by Gray, the spokesperson said a minister doing interviews would not necessarily know the “granular level detail” of this.
I will post more from the briefing soon.
Updated
Johnson has still not received Sue Gray report, No 10 says
The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished, and the PM’s spokesperson told journalists that Boris Johnson has still not received the Sue Gray report into Partygate. The spokesperson did not say when it would be arriving, but it is not expected to be published today.
Johnson says he is 'intrinsically' not in favour of windfall tax – but refuses to rule it out
Boris Johnson has recorded a clip for broadcasters during a visit to a school in south-east London. PA Media has written up the key lines.
- Johnson said that he was not “intrinsically” in favour of new taxes, but that a windfall tax was not off the table. Asked about the increasing clamour (particularly within his own party) for a windfall tax, he replied:
I’m not attracted, intrinsically, to new taxes. But as I have said throughout, we have got to do what we can - and we will - to look after people through the aftershocks of Covid, through the current pressures on energy prices that we are seeing post-Covid and with what’s going on in Russia and we are going to put our arms round people, just as we did during the pandemic.
This is broadly the line that Johnson was using at PMQs this week. At the top of government there is still no decision about the windfall tax. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is said to be increasingly in favour, but Johnson is reportedly being urged not to allow a windfall tax by advisers like David Canzini, the deputy chief of staff, and Andrew Griffith, the head of policy, who think it would be “unconservative”.
- Johnson said that the government would be doing more to help people with the cost of living, but that “you’ll just have to wait a little bit longer” for an announcement.
- He insisted that the Sue Gray report into Partygate was independent. But he would not comment on what happened when he met Gray a few weeks ago to discuss the report. Asked if the report was still independent, he replied:
Of course, but on the process you are just going to have to hold your horses a little bit longer. I don’t believe it will be too much longer and then I will be able to say a bit more.
- He said the government was monitoring the monkeypox outbreak - but claimed that at this stage it did not seem very serious. Asked about it, he said:
It’s basically very rare disease, and so far the consequences don’t seem to be very serious but it’s important that we keep an eye on it and that’s exactly what the the new UK Health Security Agency is doing.
Asked whether there should be quarantine for visitors or the use of the smallpox vaccine, he replied:
As things stand the judgment is that it’s rare. I think we’re looking very carefully at the circumstances of transmission.
It hasn’t yet proved, fatal in any case that we know of, certainly not in this country.
Updated
Cummings says he expects Partygate pictures to emerge 'very quickly' that will show 'PM obviously lied to Commons'
Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser who is now determined to be his nemesis, has posted about Partygate on his subscription-only Substack account this morning. Here are the key points.
- Cummings claims that photographs of Boris Johnson at No 10 parties are set to emerge that will show he lied to MPs when he said he was not aware of parties taking place at Downing Street. Cummings says (bold from the original):
I expect photos of the PM will emerge very quickly, within the next 24-48 hours. Any reasonable person looking at some of these photos will only be able to conclude that the PM obviously lied to the Commons, and possibly to the cops, and there is no reasonable story for how others were fined for event X but not him.
- Cummings claims Johnson was not fined by the police for attending certain events because the police did not investigate his attendance at those events. He claims that Johnson benefited in a similar way when Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, investigated the funding of the Downing Street flat refurbishment because certain lines of inquiry were not pursued. (When the final Geidt report into this was published, it was clear that some avenues for investigation had been left unexplored.)
- He claims that Johnson attended a second birthday party in 2020, as well as the one for which he was fined, that has not been reported. He says:
Some people told the police (but not Sue Gray, because they did not want the PM to read their evidence) that they had evidence regarding the organisation of illegal events from the flat. E.g apart from the ‘cake ambush’ there was a separate birthday party, uncovered by the media so far I think, that evening (which almost nobody knew about at the time, including me). There is a paper trail including WhatsApps from the flat. Sounds very bad for Boris/Carrie right? Surely that must be investigated? No! The police simply ignored it. Simple! PM cleared!
- Cummings says some junior staff at No 10 were told to attend events for which they have now been fined. Those staff relied on assurances that the gatherings were within the rules, he says.
This process for checking lawfulness was particularly crucial in No10 because No10 itself was exempted from some regulations (e.g so it could be part of the mass testing pilot) so staff did not know exactly what rules applied internally from day to day. They weren’t told ‘it’s your job to keep tabs on all the rule changes’, they were told ‘the PPS has a process to ensure everything is lawful’. Obviously you knew *an actual party* (such as clearly happened in 2021) would be against the rules but many of the fines were for events that junior staff thought were a normal part of work and had been approved as lawful. Such officials’ view, reasonably, is: we were told X is lawful but now it turns out Martin [Reynolds, the PM’s principal private secretary] didn’t do his job and it wasn’t and we’re being fined, but if we’re being fined, how come the PM who was there and appointed Martin, and unlike us was told BYOB was NOT within the rules, isn’t fined?!’
Cummings was effectively sacked by Johnson and he has made no secret of his desire to bring him down. His critics would question whether he is a reliable witness. But his revelation in January that No 10 staff were invited to a BYOB party in the Downing Street garden on 20 May 2020 was subsequently confirmed by multiple sources and did as much as almost any other single story to escalate the Partygate scandal and trigger the Met police investigation.
Updated
This is from the author Michael Rosen, who spent 48 days in intensive care with Covid, on Simon Clarke’s remarks this morning about Downing Street staff being under intense pressure during the pandemic. (See 9.24am.)
Dear Simon Clarke
— Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 (@MichaelRosenYes) May 23, 2022
Heard your int. on radio. Your point about the No 10 parties happening because of the extreme pressure we were under is well made. Compared to us politicos, all the nurses, doctors or families who lost relatives don't know what pressure is.
Vino glorioso
Boris
Boris Johnson has spoken to the new Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to congratulate him on his election victory, No 10 says. Here is an extract from the readout of the call.
The prime minister told the new Australian leader that he wanted to congratulate him fulsomely on the big moment and said he looked forward to strengthening the UK – Australia relationship even further.
Prime Minister Albanese thanked the prime minister and noted that the UK and Australia had a strong and historic friendship, stemming from their close Commonwealth ties. The pair agreed that there was more that could be done together.
Both leaders agreed that there was strong alignment between their governments’ joint agendas, spanning across global security, climate change and trade.
As all newspaper subeditors know, and Adam Bienkov from Byline Times has reminded Twitter, although “fulsomely” is routinely used to mean lavishly, technically it means excessively complimentarily (implying insincerity).
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson says that the PM called Australia’s new Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this morning to “congratulate him fulsomely” on his victory. pic.twitter.com/W48r6LwLCB
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 23, 2022
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has a bad dose of Covid, she says. She revealed on Friday that she had tested positive. This morning she posted these on Twitter.
1. Thanks for all the well wishes. The virus has really knocked me for six the past couple of days. So while I hope to be back fighting fit v soon, I’m having to stay at home for now… https://t.co/4XgDuWPGgY
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) May 23, 2022
2. Once again - this time from personal experience - please do get all doses of vaccine if you haven’t already. COVID can be nasty and vaccination protects against much more serious illness. Right now, I’m feeling extremely grateful for that 💉
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) May 23, 2022
Sunak's wealth should not stop him being chancellor, says Treasury minister Simon Clarke
And here is a full summary of the lines from Simon Clarke’s morning interviews.
- Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said publication of the Sue Gray report was being held up by a debate about who to name, and whether photographs would be included. He told Times Radio:
It’s obviously a very complicated one in terms of what can or cannot be said about, for example, naming junior civil servants, inclusion of questions, like photos. These are things which need to be bottomed out as a technical issue before publication, and rightly so because there are very considerable legal and personal sensitivities to that information potentially being disclosed. And it’s that which, as I understand, it lies at the heart of the remaining discussions before publication.
- He said the “extraordinary pressure” that No 10 staff were under during the pandemic helped to explain why the Partygate lockdown breaches happened. (See 9.24am.)
- He said his understanding was that it was Sue Gray who instigated the meeting at which she met Boris Johnson. There was nothing wrong with this happening, he said:
I don’t think it would have been in any way improper - indeed, it would have been somewhat churlish [for Johnson] to have declined to have met.
- He hinted that the universal credit taper rate could be cut - but ruled out restoring the £20 per week uplift introduced during the pandemic. (See 10.06am.)
- He confirmed the government had not ruled out imposing a windfall tax on energy companies. (See 9.52am.)
- He said the government trusted the Bank of England to tackle inflation. Some Tories have been critical of the Bank in private, claiming it has let inflation get out of control. Asked about this, Clarke said:
We absolutely have confidence in the independent Bank of England to get this right and it’s vitally important that we don’t compromise that their independence. They have a mandate, which is very clear, to deliver 2% inflation. We are going to deliver that by the end of next year on the central forecast.
- He rejected claims that Rishi Sunak’s wealth meant he was not suited to be chancellor. Asked about the revelation that Sunak’s family is now on the Sunday Times rich list, and that he is three times as wealthy as Ed Sheeran, Clarke told LBC:
I don’t think that any politician should be defined by their personal circumstances, they should be defined by their performance in their job. And I know that’s the spirit in which Rishi approaches this.
Ultimately, I don’t think we would disqualify anyone on the basis that they had too little money in the bank. And I don’t think we should disqualify Rishi on the basis that he’s obviously very fortunate.
He brings a real sense of public service to this role. Ultimately, he could be doing almost anything with his life and he chooses to serve this country and he works ferociously hard and I think he does a brilliant job.
Updated
Minister says £20 a week UC uplift won't be restored – but hints taper rate could be further cut
When Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said this morning that all options were on the table as the government considered its response to the cost of living crisis (see 9.52am), he did not mean that literally. As he made clear in a subsequent interview, on the Today programme, one option has been swept off the table; the government will not be restoring the £20 a week universal credit uplift paid during the pandemic. He said:
On that question [restoring the uplift], we were always explicitly clear that was a temporary response to the pandemic. That is not going to return. The question is how we best now look at the next range of solutions to deal with the challenges we’re facing.
But Clarke did suggested that a further cut to the universal credit taper rate was being considered. He said:
We took decisive action back in December with the change to the taper rate, that is to say the rate at which benefits are withdrawn as people’s earnings rise, and we cut that from 63p in the pound to 55p in the pound. That’s a tax cut worth an average of £1,000 to two million of the lowest earners in society.
I know that was something Iain [Duncan Smith, the Tory former work and pensions secretary] warmly welcomed at the time and which is precisely the kind of authentic Conservative solution to this question that we want to see.
Updated
Minister says 'all options on table' as pressure grows in Tory party for windfall tax
Over the last few weeks we have been able to witness the debate in the Conservative party on the merits of a windfall tax on energy companies evolve to a remarkable extent in public. At one point most Tory MPs were happy to stick to what was then the Treasury line – that it was a bad idea that would discourage investment. But now more and more senior party figures are coming out to say they are in favour. Last night George Osborne, the former chancellor, told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show he was “sure” there would be a windfall tax (although he also said he did not think it would “massively help”). And Jesse Norman, the Conservative MP and former Treasury minister, has backed the idea. He told the Today programme:
We have a situation in which millions of people, because of the massive increase in global oil and gas prices, are facing fuel poverty and a serious cost-of-living crisis in the next few months.
And so the question is, how should government respond to that? And, of course, one thing to note is that those oil and gas prices have also resulted in a massive spike in the profits of the oil majors.
Now that is a spike in profits that no one expected even three or four months ago.
They’re not factored into any investment plans and the reaction of the sector, by and large, has been to acknowledge that, and to do what many large companies do which is to engage in share buy-backs and other forms of dividending back money to shareholders.
And all a windfall tax says is ‘look this is actually inequitable because these people were not expecting that money and these are extraordinary times and we should be thinking about the wider public interest’.
Norman has set out his argument in more detail in a Twitter thread starting here.
I don’t know the Treasury’s mind regarding a windfall tax on the oil and gas sector. Few would embrace the idea with enthusiasm in normal times. But these are extraordinary times, and the arguments against it at present are very weak. 1/
— Jesse Norman (@Jesse_Norman) May 22, 2022
In his interviews this morning, Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, stuck to what is (for now) the government’s line - that while in general it does not like windfall taxes, it is not ruling one out. He told LBC:
The [oil and gas] sector is realising enormous profits at the moment.
If those profits are not directed in a way in which is productive for the real economy, then clearly all options are on the table.
And that’s what we are communicating to the sector, that we obviously want to see this investment, we need to see this investment.
If it doesn’t happen, then we can’t rule out a windfall tax.
Updated
Minister says ‘extraordinary pressure’ on No 10 staff during pandemic helps explain Partygate
Good morning. Westminster is – yet again – waiting for the Sue Gray report. The first wait was terminated by the announcement of the Metropolitan police investigation, and the Met’s ruling that publication of the Gray findings in full would compromise the inquiry. There was then a wait for Gray’s interim report – or “update”, as she called it, because the police veto made it so thin it could not be called a proper report. But this week we are finally expecting the whole thing. Very few people think it will be damning enough to trigger a Tory leadership contest, but it should provide the public with by far the best account of exactly who extensive lockdown rule-breaking was in Downing Street. Until now all we’ve had are news reports, based on evidence from unidentified whistleblowers, and limited information from the Met about the fines issued – which is many respects has begged more questions than it has answered.
Gray is a long-serving and very senior civil servant and she will have noticed that, when an independent-minded figure is about to deliver a verdict hostile to No 10, it is not unusual for Downing Street’s allies in the media to launch a hit job in advance. Right on cue, today’s Daily Mail carries a report accusing her of playing politics and grandstanding. It says:
“Sue Gray is supposed to be neutral but she’s been busy playing politics and enjoying the limelight a little too much,” said one insider.
The Mail claims Gray’s team incorrectly said Downing Street was responsible for scheduling a meeting some weeks ago between Gray and Boris Johnson – which prompted claims Johnson was trying to pressurise her when it was reported on Friday night. The Mail says:
Downing Street insiders are furious at the refusal of Miss Gray’s team to set the record straight. A source said: “It is infuriating. They have let this impression run that the PM has somehow tried to nobble the report when nothing could be further from the truth.
“He wants it all out there, however uncomfortable so we can all move on. He even wants the photos published.”
Allies of the PM have been shocked by media briefings from Miss Gray’s team.
Monday’s Daily MAIL: PM Allies Accuse Sue Gray Of ‘Playing Politics’ “. # TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/qP71QSpFjo
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 22, 2022
Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, had to respond on the morning interview round this morning on behalf of the government. He made three main points on Partygate.
- Clarke criticised the anti-Gray briefing in the Mail. Asked if he would condemn it, he replied:
I would [condemn it]. I think the one thing I would say about Sue Gray, and I have never met her but I have heard a great deal about her, is that by repute she is one of the most fiercely independent and professional civil servants in the whole of government and brings a vast range of experience to bear, so I don’t think there is any politics.
In no way do I think there is anything other than a practical dimension to the question of when it comes out, now that the police have concluded their investigation.
- He said his understanding was that it was Gray who instigated the meeting at which she met Johnson.
- He said said the “extraordinary pressure” that No 10 staff were under during the pandemic helped to explain why the Partygate lockdown breaches happened. He said:
I think we also need to remember, without excusing what happened, but by way of context, the extraordinary pressure that group of people were under during the course of the pandemic.
They were working the longest imaginable hours under the most enormous amount of pressure. That in no way diminishes the seriousness of what happened, but it does provide some context.
As my colleague Peter Walker argues, this sounds like a preview of the case for the defence we will hear from No 10 when the full report comes out.
Full Simon Clarke quote on Sky seeking to mitigate the seriousness of 126 No 10/Whitehall fines is interesting in that it might indicate a rehearsal of the post-Sue Gray lines to come from ministers. pic.twitter.com/Eu9ERbvHcT
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) May 23, 2022
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: The ONS publishes a report on hybrid working.
Morning: Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer are doing separate visits in or near London. They are both due to record clips for broadcasters.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
1pm: Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, gives evidence to the Lords science and technology committee on the UK science strategy.
2.30pm: Tim Davie, the BBC director general, gives evidence to the Lords communications and digital committee on the future of the BBC licence fee.
After 3.30pm: MPs begin the second reading debate on the public order bill.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.
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