Boris Johnson’s most senior communications adviser Jack Doyle reportedly spoke and gave out awards at an alleged No 10 Christmas party last year.
Mr Doyle’s current role involves responding to claims that No 10 held numerous parties while the country was in lockdown or Tier 3 restrictions last Christmas.
It was reported by ITV News on Thursday that Jack Doyle had made a thank you speech and given out certificates as part of a joke awards ceremony for members of the communication team at a gathering on December 18.
According to the BBC, there were food, drinks and games at the event and Mr Doyle made the speech to a group of 20-30 people.
Before his career in politics, Jack Doyle was a journalist. He worked at the Daily Mail newspaper for ten years and rose to the position of assistant editor (politics). He was hired from that position to be a press secretary at No 10 by former director of communications Lee Cain.
When Lee Cain resigned at the end of last year, a reshuffle began in the Downing Street communications team. James Slack, a former Daily Mail political editor, was brought in to replace Lee Cain and Jack Doyle became his deputy.
When Mr Slack announced that he was quitting to be deputy editor-in-chief at The Sun, Jack Doyle stepped in to take his place.
The son of a policeman, Mr Doyle is a father-of-two who is reportedly well liked by his colleagues in the Downing Street communications team.
He was deputy head of communications at the time that the gathering on December 18 took place.
Before working at the Daily Mail, Jack Doyle was a home affairs correspondent at the Press Association. He held the same position at the Mail before moving into the politics team.
Mr Doyle was also reportedly responsible for vetoing plans for daily televised press briefings, which were going to be fronted by then press secretary Allegra Stratton.
A video of a mock press conference emerged this week in which Allegra Stratton joked about a “fictional” No 10 Christmas party. She has since had to resign.
Mr Doyle was also caught up last month in a bizarre controversy involving the newspaper The New European.
Following the publication of a piece in the newspaper which alleged that Boris Johnson had said he had “buyer’s remorse” about marrying Carrie Johnson, the editor, Matt Kelly, received a call “by a man who identified himself as being from Downing Street Communications office.”
The man, whose name he didn’t catch, threatened to sue The New European for defamation.
The paper’s editor continued: “After a few minutes, the caller eventually told me: ‘You just crack on then mate’ and put the phone down.
“I texted him, asking him to repeat his threat of legal action and to send across the Downing Street denial. I also asked him – twice – to identify himself, which he refused to do….
“The next morning, I established that the phone number of the caller belonged to Jack Doyle, the Downing Street Director of Communications”.
Downing Street then denied that they had threatened legal action against the paper.
