Leaked text messages sent by Carrie Johnson suggest that a second rule-breaking birthday bash may have taken place inside the prime minister’s Downing Street flat on his 56th birthday.
Johnson, his wife Carrie and chancellor Rishi Sunak have all been fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending a surprise birthday party held for the PM on 19 June 2020, when mixing indoors was forbidden under Covid regulations.
Pictures of Johnson enjoying sandwiches, beer and cake were published in Sue Gray’s long-awaited report into Downing Street rule-breaking. But a second gathering may have taken place just hours after the event for which Johnson was fined, according to a report in The Sunday Times.
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Text messages between Carrie Johnson and an aide appear to show that she was in the Downing Street flat “with several friends” on the evening of her husband’s birthday, said the newspaper. The messages also suggest that the prime minister “went up to the flat” at a time when events of two or more people indoors were banned except for work purposes, the paper added.
It is the second gathering that the prime minister’s wife is alleged to have hosted in the flat while Covid restrictions were in place, the first being the infamous ‘Abba party’ that took place in November, allegedly to celebrate the departure of senior adviser Dominic Cummings and former communications chief Lee Cain. But both the Metropolitan Police’s investigation and Gray’s report did not find any wrongdoing in regards to the event.
What was said in the text messages?
The Telegraph reported that the “precise words” used by Carrie Johnson are “unclear” but, according to sources familiar with the texts, she responded to an aide’s message informing her that her husband was on his way up to the Downing Street flat by responding: “Great. I am here already with the gays.”
The paper alleged that the term was used “affectionately” and refers to a “small circle of gay, male friends with whom Mrs Johnson is close”.
It is thought that Carrie Johnson was in the company of at “least two friends, both of them special advisers”. Limited gatherings were allowed for work purposes at the time, but as she had “no formal position in government… it is uncertain what the work purpose could be”, added the paper.
Were the texts passed on to Gray’s inquiry?
The Sunday Times reported that Gray’s inquiry had been told of the existence of the text messages in January by an unnamed aide.
The aide reportedly told Gray’s investigators that “while they did not want to forward the messages, they were prepared to come into the Cabinet Office to show the messages to inquiry officials in person”. The same aide also reportedly offered to supply the text messages to the Met’s investigation into Downing Street parties.
The aide claims that Gray’s investigation team failed to follow up on the offer. They subsequently renewed their offer once the Met’s inquiry had been concluded, reported the paper, “but this went unheeded”.
The aide has now written to the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, to raise with him “some evidence I provided to the Gray report and the Met that I feel is important”. It includes the attachment of an email sent to the Gray inquiry in January that claimed they had “messages that indicate there was a social gathering in the PM’s flat on that evening”.
The Cabinet Office has disputed that the aide offered to bring the messages in for Gray’s investigators to read, with a source telling The Telegraph: “The individual did not offer to bring the messages into the Cabinet Office, so there was no chance for the investigation team to read them.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Carrie Johnson said that “Sue Gray was aware of these exchanges as part of her exhaustive inquiry into alleged breaches” and that staff were “given ample opportunity to present evidence including these messages”. The spokesperson added that “all relevant information was passed to the Metropolitan Police for investigation”.
What could happen next?
While it is “unclear” why Sue Gray’s inquiry chose not to investigate the second alleged birthday gathering further, the privileges committee, which is already set to investigate the prime minister over whether he misled parliament, may decide to “add the event to its to-do list”, said The Telegraph.
And if the privileges committee does decide to investigate further, then the prime minister’s wife “may well now be summoned to give evidence to MPs over this new gathering”.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner “has followed-up” on the reports by writing to Case calling on him to release correspondence that relates to the alleged second event, and to hand over the messages to the privileges committee, said the Evening Standard.
