Downing Street gatherings: What did Privileges Committee say about each event?

The Privileges Committee investigated six key gatherings in reaching its conclusions.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson (/PA) (PA Wire)

A parliamentary report has found that Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament with denials over partygate.

The Privileges Committee investigated six key gatherings in reaching its conclusions, but the former prime minister has claimed it has “no evidence to back up its assertions”.

Here is the evidence relating to each event and the conclusions the committee subsequently reached:

– May 20 2020: ‘Bring your own booze’ garden party

Evidence: An event to which “200-odd” people were invited in the No 10 garden while guidance restricted gatherings of more than two people sparked concern among some officials and advisers, the committee said.

The report notes evidence from officials who claimed they thought the event was “madness” and left many people “unhappy”, while Mr Johnson’s former director of communications Lee Cain has claimed it would have been “highly unusual” for him not to flag a “comms risk” with the prime minister.

Mr Johnson claimed he thought the “bring your own booze” event – over which fixed penalty notices were handed out – was in line with guidance at the time.

Conclusion: The committee rejected the idea that a gathering held purely for the purpose of staff morale is “essential for work purposes”. It did not believe Mr Johnson would have advised the public that this was the case had he been asked at the time. However, the MPs found it was “not clear” whether officials’ concerns were raised with the then-prime minister at the time.

– June 19 2020: Birthday cake in the Cabinet Room

Evidence: Mr Johnson was fined over an event to celebrate his birthday in the Cabinet Room.

Photographs of the gathering show at least 17 people were present, while Covid guidance restricted indoor gatherings of two or more individuals, the committee said.

In WhatsApp messages, Jack Doyle, Mr Johnson’s then-press secretary, told other No 10 officials he was “struggling to come up with a way” that the gathering was in the rules, the committee said.

Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie Johnson and their interior designer, who he claimed in evidence were “absolutely necessary participants”, were also present at the event. He added that he believed his family were entitled to use “every part of the building” while he lived in Downing Street.

Conclusion: The committee noted that despite the former prime minister’s protestations, he had the right to contest the fixed penalty notice handed to him by police and chose not to do so. “His assertion that the prime minister’s family are entitled to use every part of the building does not constitute an explanation,” it added.

– November 13 2020: Leaving event for director of communications

Evidence: Fixed penalty notices were issued, though not to Mr Johnson, over an impromptu farewell gathering for Mr Cain in No 10’s press office vestibule.

Mr Johnson was photographed standing next to other people in close proximity, but claimed he believed the gathering was essential for work purposes in order to maintain staff morale.

Conclusion: It would have been “clear” to Mr Johnson that the guidance at the time did not allow a socially undistanced event purely for the purpose of maintaining staff morale, the committee said.

– November 27 2020: Impromptu farewell gathering for special adviser

Evidence: The former prime minister accepted he attended and gave a speech at an unplanned leaving gathering for special adviser Cleo Watson in the vestibule.

A witness claimed that Mr Johnson joked it was “probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now”.

Conclusion: Mr Johnson would have been given “ample opportunity” to note the large number of people in the relatively small space of the vestibule, if his claim that he was in attendance for 10 minutes was correct, the report said.

The “15 to 20 guests” present would have been “too many” for social distancing to be maintained, the committee concluded. Mr Johnson was also “disingenuous” with the committee in failing to deny he had made the alleged joke about social distancing, instead claiming he did not remember making the remark.

– December 18 2020: Drinks into the ‘early hours’

Evidence: Between 25 to 40 people attended a gathering that continued until the “early hours”, according to witness evidence, and Mr Johnson walked past at 9.58pm, according to his official diary records.

He has insisted he heard nothing nor did he see anyone “detectably under the influence of alcohol”.

Conclusion: Mr Johnson was “unlikely” to have been unaware of the gathering, the committee said, though it accepted there was a slim possibility that “nothing untoward” was happening when he passed by.

– January 14 2021: Drinks at a leaving gathering during Tier 4 restrictions

Evidence: The former prime minister has accepted he attended and gave a speech at a leaving gathering for two officials with up to 15 people present while Tier 4 Covid restrictions were in force in London.

Again, Mr Johnson claimed in his evidence that he attended for around 10 minutes and did not believe the event was in breach of Covid rules.

Asked about an “array of bottles” present on the table in photographs of the event, he said: “It is customary to say farewell to people in this country with a toast.”

Conclusion: The committee said it did not believe the event was compliant with Covid rules. Taken together, the evidence suggests that Mr Johnson’s “cumulative direct personal experience” of these events makes it highly unlikely he believed the assurances he made to the Commons, the committee said. It concluded his own knowledge was such that he “deliberately misled” both the House and the committee.