By Ben Kerrigan-
A published photo of Boris Johnson drinking at an event during a Covid lockdown raises fresh questions of rule breaking , though the prime minister has not been fined
The pictures, released by ITV News show the prime minister at a leaving party on 13 November 2020.
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The Metropolitan Police is being urged to “explain” why Boris Johnson has not been fined for a No 10 event during England’s second lockdown, as a leaked photograph showed him raising a glass to a departing colleague.
There were at least eight other people in the room at a time when people were banned from social mixing, other than to meet one person outside, and at least one individual has received a fine over an event on that date.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, who said he had “assiduously stayed well away” from the Scotland Yard investigation, said it was now important for the force to provide “clarity” on their conclusions.
The Metropolitan Police is facing calls to explain why prime minister Boris Johnson has not been fined for a No 10 event during England’s second lockdown, following a leaked photograph of him raising a glass to a departing colleague.
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Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London said it was now important for the force to provide “clarity” on their conclusions.
However, Downing Street has confirmed that the picture was taken by a Downing Street photographer, adding that Johnson’s presence at the time was in an official capacity.
The police investigated two events in Downing Street on 13 November.
Reference has been made to a question Johnson was asked in Parliament by a Labour MP whether a party had taken place on that date, Mr Johnson said “no”, adding that “I’m sure…all the rules were followed”. Meanwhile, a government source has also told the BBC that civil servant Sue Gray may hand her report on parties to Downing Street on Wednesday, followed by a statement in Parliament and a press conference by the prime minister.
Responding to the leaks, Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth said it would be difficult for the PM to reconcile his statement to Parliament that no party had taken place with the pictures and called on Tory MPs to remove him from office.
The peer and former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, said the prime minister had lied to Parliament and his position was now untenable.
Former justice secretary Robert Buckland told BBC Radio Wiltshire that: “If there’s a deliberate lie, I can’t see how anybody, including this prime minister, can continue.”
“There are things we say honestly and genuinely at the time that we believe to be true… now that’s one thing. Going and deliberately saying X is Y knowing that is the case is, of course, beyond the pale.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that while he found the picture “difficult to look at”, he suggested the presence of the PM’s ministerial red box “suggests he was probably on his way through”.
“I think he’s popped down there to raise a glass and say thank you to a long term member of staff who is leaving,” he said, adding that the police would have “thoroughly investigated” the event.
He also said the prime minister was “mortified”. A No 10 spokeswoman said the prime minister would address Parliament “in full” after senior civil servant Sue Gray published her report into the gatherings “in the coming days”.
There was support for the PM from Conservative backbench MP Sir Desmond Swayne, who said he believed it was a “work do”, adding “that’s what people do at work”.
He told BBC Newsnight: “Now I understand entirely the public anguish at a time when they were locked down and they were not supposed to be together, but there clearly was a distinction between the workplace – where people work together and are effectively in a bubble – and what was taking place outside.”
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