A new report into Boris Johnson and the Partygate scandal has been released by MPs investigating whether the former Conservative prime minister lied to Parliament about his attendance at lockdown parties.
The House of Commons Committee on Privileges is looking into what Mr Johnson said about the Downing Street events that broke the restrictions his own government had imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The committee published a 24-page dossier on Friday that will be used to question Mr Johnson when he appears before MPs later this month.
“The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings,” the panel writes, suggesting that he may have misled the Commons on at least four occasions and “did not correct the statements” at the “earliest opportunity” as would have been expected.
The report also contains a number of WhatsApp messages supplied by Mr Johnson’s solicitors detailing private conversations between the then-PM and five other individuals, one of whom is Jack Doyle, his then-director of communications.
The texts show Downing Street officials worried about the gathering media storm developing over Partygate and admitting that they were “struggling” to formulate credible defensive lines to answer the increasingly persistent questions of Westminster lobby journalists.
In one particularly damning exchange, Mr Johnson’s communications chief concedes that there is a ”great gaping hole in the PM’s account” of the controversy.
You can read the complete messages included in the report below, arranged in chronological order, with the precise time each text was sent included in parentheses.
28 April 2021
Unnamed No. 10 official (16:47:12) “[Redacted name]’s worried about leaks of PM having a p*** up and to be fair I don’t think it’s unwarranted.”
30 November 2021
Director of communications (16:13:16): “Can you pull together our best possible defence on this one. I don’t know what we say about the flat.”
Unnamed No. 10 official (16:13:47): “Don’t we just do a generic line and not get into whether there was a drinks thing or not.”
Unnamed No. 10 official (16:14:16): “‘Covid rules have been followed at all times’ or something.”
Director of communications (16:14:18): “I think we have to say something as robust as we can manage but see what you think.”
25 January 2022
Director of Communications (06:54:30): “Have we had any legal advice on the birthday one?”
Director of Communications (06:55:06): “Haven’t heard any explanation of how it’s in the rules.”
Unnamed No. 10 official (08:04:46): “I’m trying to do some Q&A, it’s not going well.”
Director of Communications (08:05:12): “I’m struggling to come up with a way this one is in the rules in my head.”
Director of Communications (08:05:20): “PM was eating his lunch of course.”
Unnamed No. 10 official (08:06:47): “I meant for the police bit but yeah as ridiculous as the cake thing is it is difficult.”
Unnamed No. 10 official (08:06:56): “‘Reasonably necessary for work purposes’.”
Director of Communications (08:07:40): “Not sure that one works does it. Also blows another great gaping hole in the PM’s account doesn’t it?”
