Bombshell pictures have emerged this evening showing Boris Johnson raising a glass at a party he denied ever took place.
The Prime Minister has been accused of lying to Parliament after four photographs show him with aides around a table laden with alcohol and party food, ITV News has revealed.
Sources revealed to both ITV and the Mirror stating they were taken at a leaving do for his communications chief Lee Cain on November 13, 2020, a time when social gatherings indoors were banned between people not from the same household. Images appear to demonstrate Boris Johnson making a toast next to a table with two bottles of champagne or cava, four bottles of wine and half a bottle of gin, reports the Mirror.
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Mr Johnson was not investigated for the event and therefore did not receive a fine much to the surprise of many in Downing Street, the Mirror reported last week. Sources previously claimed he had instigated the event, gathering staff around the table and pouring drinks.
The photos, which have been leaked on the eve of Sue Gray's Partygate report, have materialised five months after the Prime Minister explicitly denied a party took place in No 10 on November 13, 2020. They appear to show eight people, plus the photographer, though others were believed to have been present out of shot. ITV News chose to blur the faces of other attendees.
He was asked by Labour MP Catherine West on December 8: "Will the Prime Minister tell the House whether there was a party in Downing Street on the 13th of November?"
Speaking under privilege in the House of Commons, Mr Johnson replied: "No. But I’m sure that, whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times."
The PM already faces an inquiry by the committee of privileges over whether he misled Parliament when he claimed no rules had been broken in No 10. Tory ministers who knowingly mislead the House of Commons are expected to resign from their positions.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “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.”
Just eight days earlier England had been put back into strict lockdown due to soaring cases of Covid-19.
The Met Police issued fines over an event or events on the date in question in November 2020. Scotland Yard refused to say if they fined people at Lee Cain's leaving do that is now pictured, a so-called 'Abba party' in the Downing Street flat on the same night, or both. The photos were taken on the night Dominic Cummings walked out of Downing Street as he and Lee Cain quit in a wave of infighting in No10.
SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford said: "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.”
Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said: “People will rightly be furious to see pictures of Johnson drinking at what is an obvious party, when he repeatedly told us that the rules were followed at all times. These photos show Boris Johnson has taken the British people for fools. While the public made huge sacrifices, he partied in Number 10.
“It’s becoming clearer than ever that Boris Johnson lied to the British people and to Parliament. Conservative MPs must do their duty and sack this law-breaking Prime Minister. Every day he remains in office will do more damage to public trust and to our democracy."
It comes just hours after former top aide Dominic Cummings warned the PM faces the publication of Partygate photos "within the next 24-48 hours". The ex-Downing Street advisor claimed the bombshell images would show that Mr Johnson "obviously lied to the Commons and possibly to the cops".
Mr Cummings, who has been a fierce critic of the PM 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".
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."
Meanwhile, Downing Street refused to publish minutes of a secretive meeting between Boris Johnson and Sue Gray around the start of May.
