No 10 has apologised for wrongly telling The Independent there were no Downing Street parties, but refused to say if anyone will be disciplined.
Late last year, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman was asked how he could claim no Covid rules were broken when – at the time – no investigation was taking place.
The Independent was told: “It’s simply just a statement of fact,” and “I’m not going to get into internal matters. As I said, guidance has been followed at all times.”
The Sue Gray report has now laid bare a catalogue of drunkenness, vomiting and damage at the illegal events, which led to 126 fines by the Metropolitan Police.
Asked why journalists had been misled, in December, the official spokesman said: “I am happy to apologise for that.”
He claimed there “were events we were not aware of” at the time, but – asked if any staff will be disciplined as a result – said: “I’m not going to get into disciplinary action.”
The spokesman also confirmed Mr Johnson was admitting he misled the Commons over the parties when he told MPs, on Wednesday, that he was “correcting the record” – but said the misleading was not intentional.
The distinction will be crucial when the Commons privileges committee begins its inquiry, within weeks, into whether the prime minister lied to parliament.
Under the ministerial code, any minister who knowingly misleads the House of Commons is expected to resign.
The spokesman declined to say that all 300 photos and 500 pieces of evidence gathered by the Met investigation will be released to the inquiry.
He also could not confirm that Ms Gray will be allowed to give evidence to it, if called, after previous examples of senior civil servants being blocked from appearing.
Mr Johnson’s defence will rest on the claim that – having not been fined for allegedly brief appearances at staff leaving drinks – he had “no knowledge” of the rule-breaking that followed.
On Wednesday, the prime minister told MPs he had been “vindicated” by the Gray report, despite several more Tory MPs demanding his resignation on the back of its findings.
Asked if he held that view because he received “only one fine”, the spokesman said the Met’s conclusions backed Mr Johnson’s view that he was “right to attend those events to thank staff”.
The spokesman also confirmed that new restrictions on drinking alcohol in No 10 meant that “Wine Time Fridays” – joked about by staff, Ms Gray revealed – were no more.
“Alcohol consumption in No 10 for staff is not permitted. The only distinction being for formal events – visits from world leaders,” he said.
“The guidance makes clear that excessive consumption of alcohol, or sufficient consumption to impair judgement, is not appropriate.”
He declined to say if he was at any of the lockdown-busting events, or if he received any police fines.
