By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson gave a speech at a leaving event revealed by Sue Gray to have been held in Downing Street just over a week into the third national lockdown, according to a new report.
In an update into the Partygate scandal, Ms Gray said that the gathering at No 10 on 14 January last year was among a dozen events now being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.
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Johnson attended a leaving event for a Number 10 aide during the strict post-Christmas lockdown on January 14 2021, making a speech while staff drank prosecco, The Guardian reported.
The Met police which is probing 12 separate parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
Meanwhile, Johnson was also reported to have attended an event in his Downing Street flat on November 13 2020 — the day Dominic Cummings, his former adviser, was forced out of his job.
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Johnson refused to tell MPs on Monday whether he went to the event on November 13 and Downing Street declined to comment on the new allegations.
Police are also probing a 56th birthday party for Johnson in the cabinet room and a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden, also attended by the prime minister.
Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, on Tuesday called for Johnson to go “after a great deal of soul searching”, while other mainstream Tory MPs said they were agonising over whether to call for a no-confidence vote.
Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, told BBC Radio Devon that he was “wrestling with his conscience”, adding that “many prime ministers would resign” over revelations of a lockdown party culture in Downing Street.
Although most Tory MPs had said the immediate danger to Johnson had passed, there is widespread agreement that his survival as prime minister beyond the summer is uncertain.
Downing Street on Tuesday confirmed, after initial hesitation, that it would make public any penalty notice handed to Johnson following the Met investigation.
Johnson has also reluctantly agreed, under pressure from Tory MPs, to publish a full version of the report by Gray into the parties, once the police have concluded their own inquiry.
In her “updated” report published on Monday, Gray criticized a “failure of leadership” in Number 10 and unearthed a drinking culture but she had to excise most details at the request of the Met.
Some in government believe that Gray’s original report was “dynamite” and highly damaging to Johnson, hence his original reluctance to guarantee to MPs that it would be published.
Many Tory MPs fear that the prime minister and party could suffer more harm when the Met finally reports. They see the local elections on May 5 as a key moment to assess whether Johnson is still a winner.
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