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
