Partygate: new Boris Johnson photos ‘put fizz’ back into row

Newly released photos of Boris Johnson raising a glass of wine at a lockdown-breaching event in Downing Street have sparked more calls for him to resign.

The scoop by ITV News’s Paul Brand “cast fresh doubt on the Prime Minister’s claims that he was unaware of rule-breaking in Downing Street during the pandemic”, the news channel reported.

The four images, which The Telegraph said could “put the fizz” back into the Partygate scandal, show Johnson raising a glass at a leaving party on 13 November 2020 – a time when only two people from different households were allowed to mix indoors.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Questions over misleading Parliament

Bottles of alcohol and party food can be seen on the table in front of Johnson in the new photos. But Downing Street has argued that the gathering was not a party but rather a work event.

“Whether those excuses pass muster in the court of public opinion, or indeed the all-important court of Tory MPs’ opinion, is another question,” wrote Politico’s Alex Wickham.

The story led BBC News at Ten last night and the front pages of almost all of today’s papers, while members of the public who were unable to see dying family members during the pandemic went on social media yesterday to express outrage at the pictures.

The prime minister is also facing allegations that he misled Parliament.

Tory MP Roger Gale told Times Radio the photos showed it was “absolutely clear there was a party, that he attended it, that he was raising a glass to toast one of his colleagues. Therefore, he misled us from the dispatch box. Honourably, there is one answer.”

Fresh revelations have also emerged about a face-to-face meeting between the prime minister and Sue Gray, the senior civil servant tasked with writing the report on lockdown breaches in Downing Street.

Steven Swinford and Oliver Wright claimed in The Times that Johnson urged Gray not to publish her full report in light of the police investigation. Johnson is said to have asked Gray if there was much point in publishing it given that “it’s all out there”.

“Given this detail has now ended up on the front page of the Times, it would appear the request did not go down well,” said Wickham.

Questions for police and Johnson

Accusations of lockdown breaches, misleading Parliament and attempting to block publication of the Gray report puts Johnson in a precarious position.

The new photos from the Partygate saga have also “left police facing questions about the credibility of their investigation”, said The Guardian.

According to The Telegraph, “it has emerged that the prime minister has escaped a fine for the leaving do, despite the photographic evidence. Police did not even send Mr Johnson a questionnaire, indicating that officers did not believe he had a case to answer.”

Some have even asked if there has been any collusion between the police and government. Speaking to LBC’s Andrew Marr, Lib Dem politician Brian Paddick, once deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, said: “I think that the Met may not have investigated this as thoroughly as they could have done because they didn’t want to upset No. 10.”