Downing Street has refused to publish minutes of a secretive meeting between Boris Johnson and Sue Gray ahead of the publication of her Partygate report.
No10 today admitted its staff contacted Ms Gray’s office suggesting a meeting - which led to direct talks between the PM and the senior civil servant around the start of May.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson had not requested the talks personally, and indicated they were an “overview” of the timings of publication.
But No10 today refused to provide any details of what the pair discussed or a cast list of who was present.
And asked if Boris Johnson would publish the minutes of the meeting, as MPs are set to demand today, his spokesman said: “No, it was a private meeting - we wouldn’t publish details of a private meeting”.
Sue Gray is expecting to name Boris Johnson in her final report on parties in No10 and Whitehall when it is published, likely today or tomorrow. The PM was given until last night to respond and her officials are making final checks today.
Ex-aide Dominic Cummings today warned Boris Johnson faces the publication of Partygate photos "within the next 24-48 hours".
It came as the Lib Dems launched a Commons bid to force the Government to publish minutes from the meeting and who arranged it.
The party was planning to lay a Humble Address motion today, calling on the Government to publish the details of the meeting, including who was responsible for arranging it.
Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: "The public would be rightly angry if it turns out Boris Johnson put pressure on Sue Gray to water down her report into illegal Downing Street parties.
"A lack of transparency at this pivotal moment risks undermining the entire inquiry.
"We deserve to know whether this meeting really was an attempt to turn the report into a Downing Street stitch-up."
It comes after days of briefing and counter-briefing about who requested the meeting, with No10 sources suggesting Sue Gray requested it only for Ms Gray’s team to say the opposite.
Today Boris Johnson’s official spokesman admitted it was Downing Street officials who suggested the meeting, which led Ms Gray to send a “technical request” for one.
He said: “The technical meeting request came through from Sue Gray, but it was initially suggested by officials in No10 that it may be something that she might want to consider.”
Asked if Ms Gray was “playing politics” with Partygate, as some allies of the PM anonymously claimed today, the PM’s spokesman replied: “No.”
Asked to explain the meeting, Boris Johnson's spokesman said: “We were understanding there were reports, public reports that the investigation might be coming to a conclusion, so it was discussed that it might be useful to give an overview to what Sue Gray and her team were planning with regards to publication and timings of publication on the conclusion of the report.
“I think those discussions had taken place at official level already.”
Boris Johnson refused to say if he initiated the meeting or what they discussed.
He told reporters at a school in south east London: “I’m with great respect not going to comment on, or give any running commentary on, her report until we get it.
“The moment is not very far off, it can’t be long now before I’ll be able to say something.”
Asked if the report was truly independent given he met Sue Gray in secret, he replied: “Of course”.
But Keir Starmer said reports that Boris Johnson held a secret meeting with Sue Gray were a "new low" for the Government.
During a tour of a large Sainsbury's store in Nine Elms, south London, on Monday, 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.
"What we do know is there was industrial-scale law-breaking in Downing Street - over 120 fines. So what we need now is the full report, all of the evidence."
Ex-Downing Street advisor Dominic Cummings claimed bombshell images would show that the Prime Minister "obviously lied to the Commons and possibly to the cops".
Mr Cummings, a fierce critic of the Prime Minister since he quit No 10 last year, appeared to suggest that disgruntled junior civil servants who had been fined for lockdown breaches while the PM got off could release the pictures.
However the long-awaited report into 'Partygate' conducted by senior civil servant Sue Gray, which is expected to be published on Tuesday or Wednesday, could also include photographs of events.
Ms Gray handed more than 300 images to Scotland Yard from her probe.
Downing Street insiders suggested the PM was "quite happy" for images to be published to dispel the public belief that Downing Street was "like Ibiza on a Saturday night".
However, Mr Cummings, referring to photographic evidence held by officials, said: "One of the consequences is that 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."
The former Vote Leave chief also criticised the Met Police for failing to investigate the PM for every event he attended - when others at them received fines.
The Mirror revealed last week that Scotland Yard only investigated Mr Johnson for six of the rules-busting gatherings he was at - but it was unclear why.
In his latest blog, Mr Cummings said: "How has he not been fined more? It’s not because the PM’s presence is in doubt: multiple officials have told the cops he was at X or Y event that the cops have defined ‘unlawful’ and given the cops photos, so the cops know he was there. Part of the reason is that for some events the police simply have not investigated, haven’t asked him about X or Y."
The bitter former aide also claimed No 10 was in deep chaos with the PM undermining his chief of staff Steve Barclay, top officials briefing against one another and the political team "drowning their sorrows" in the pub.
