Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson did not receive an invitation to the “socially distanced drinks” held in the garden of Downing Street on 20 May 2020, No 10 has said.The PM’s press secretary said that the email inviting staff members to enjoy the sunshine at a “bring your own booze” event during lockdown was not sent on Mr Johnson’s instruction and he was not among the estimated 100 people to whom it was addressed.But the press secretary was unable to explain how the prime minister knew that he should attend the event, which he told the House of Commons he joined for 25 minutes in order to thank staff for their work.Mr Johnson’s claim that he believed the gathering to be a work event would be more difficult to sustain if it could be shown that he saw the invitation sent out by his principal private secretary Martin Reynolds.Mr Reynolds’ comment that “after what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden” leave little doubt that it was intended as a social event.Downing Street confirmed that Mr Reynolds remains in his post – one of the most influential in Mr Johnson’s inner circle – and continues to enjoy the PM’s full confidence.No 10 refused to confirm whether Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie joined him at the event, as eye-witnesses have suggested. And the press secretary refused to say whether other ministers took part, whether the prime minister gave a speech and whether he brought a bottle.She said that all these were issues to be determined by the ongoing inquiry by Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray, whose findings Downing Street does not want to pre-empt.Downing Street also refused to say whether Tory MP Simon Hoare was right to suggest that the event was in fact a party to welcome back the PM after his return from being treated in hospital for Covid and a thankyou to deputy prime minister Dominic Raab for taking the reins in his absence.In a lengthy grilling by journalists following Mr Johnson’s Commons apology, the PM’s press secretary repeatedly dodged questions on the detail of the event by saying: “Matters around guidance, the nature of any gatherings and attendance are a matter for the independent review to determine.”No 10 was unable to give any date for the publication of Ms Gray’s report, but said that the PM will publish it in full.The PM’s official spokesperson declined to commit Mr Johnson to accepting any recommendations by the Whitehall mandarin, pointing out that her remit is to establish the facts around a series of reported parties and she will not necessarily make proposals for action.“ Sue Gray has the prime minister’s backing to carry out this important work and establish the facts,” he said. “Without seeking to preempt the findings of the review, she has his full backing and he will accept the fact that she establishes.”In response to reporter’s questions, the press secretary denied that the prime minister was “a liar”, but said that the issue of whether he lied about this particular occasion was a matter for the Gray report to determine. More

The government’s use of a VIP fast lane for suppliers of Covid personal protective equipment (PPE) with connections to ministers and officials has been ruled unlawful by the High Court.Campaigners from the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor took the Department of Health and Social Care to court over claims that suppliers with political links were given an unfair advantage in obtaining contracts running into hundreds of millions of pounds.In a ruling released today, judge Mrs Justice O’Farrell found that the VIP lane system was “in breach of the obligation of equal treatment”, adding: “The illegality is marked by this judgment.”At the height of the first wave of coronavirus, a number of bids to supply PPE such as gowns, masks and gloves were passed on to officials by ministers including then health secretary Matt Hancock after they were approached directly by contacts.The groups took legal action over more than £340 million in contracts awarded to pest control firm PestFix and a contract worth around £252 million to the hedge fund Ayanda Capital.They argued that suppliers including PestFix and Ayanda were prioritised “because of who they knew, not what they could deliver”.DHSC contested the claim, telling the court it “wholeheartedly” rejected the case against it and that the VIP lane was rational and resulted in a “large number of credible offers” in an environment where PPE deals often failed within “minutes”.The court found that offers introduced by “senior referrers” such as ministers or high-ranking officials received “earlier consideration” than others submitted under the normal processes.“The High Priority Lane Team was better resourced and able to respond to such offers on the same day that they arrived,” said the ruling.And the judge that “there is evidence that opportunities were treated as high priority even where there were no objectively justifiable grounds for expediting the offer”.However, she found that both of the companies’ offers “justified priority treatment on its merits” and were “very likely” to have been awarded contracts even without the VIP lane.Barrister Jo Maugham, the director of the Good Law Project, said: “Good Law Project revealed the red carpet-to-riches VIP lane for those with political connections in October 2020. And the court has now held that, unsurprisingly, the lane was illegal.“Never again should any government treat a public health crisis as an opportunity to enrich its associates and donors at public expense.”The chief executive of campaign group EveryDoctor, Dr Julia Grace Patterson, said: “We brought the government to court because NHS staff and other frontline workers were woefully unsupported and unprotected by this government. “Many were provided with no PPE and many died. The government must never again be allowed to conduct themselves in this manner during a national healthcare crisis”.The ruling noted that some of the equipment supplied, including aprons, gowns and masks, could not be used in the NHS. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called for a full independent inquiry into the VIP fast lane system.“While our hardworking NHS staff were going without PPE, Tory politicians saw an opportunity to line their cronies’ pockets,” said Ms Rayner. “A judge has now ruled the VIP lane unlawful but that may be just the tip of the iceberg.“Even now ministers are covering up key documents while critical messages and minutes have gone missing.“Only a fully independent investigation will get to the bottom of how £3.5bn of taxpayers’ cash were handed out in crony contracts and ensure it can never happen again.” More

Bookmakers have shortened the odds on Boris Johnson being replaced as prime minister following outrage over his attendance at a “bring your own booze” event at the height of lockdown.Several Tory MPs have broken rank to say the No 10 garden gathering on 20 May 2020 may be resigning matter – warning that Mr Johnson’s position could soon be “untenable”.Mr Johnson is now odds-on to be replaced in 2022, according to one leading betting firm. “Our betting indicates the PM is unlikely to see out the year in No 10,” said Coral’s John Hill.Chancellor Rishi Sunak is the favourite to replace Mr Johnson if there is a leadership contest, narrowly ahead of foreign secretary Liz Truss.Mr Sunak is 9/4 to be the next prime minister, while Ms Truss is 22/5, according to Oddschecker, a comparison site compiling odds from leading British bookmakers.Senior backbencher Jeremy Hunt – who lost out to Mr Johnson at the Tory leadership contest in 2019 – is 11/1 with several bookies, while cabinet minister Michael Gove is further out at 16/1 with several firms.Two-thirds (66 per cent) of voters – including 42 per cent of those who backed Tories at the last election – polled by Savanta ComRes said Mr Johnson should resign over the party issue, up 12 points on a similar survey in December.Mr Johnson apologised at PMQs for attending a gathering in the No 10 garden during England’s first lockdown. He acknowledged the public “rage” over the incident – but insisted he thought it was a “work event” and could have been said to “technically” fall within the guidance.Tory MP Sir Roger said he had concluded that Mr Johnson had “misled” the Commons with his previous denials. “Politically, the prime minister is a dead man walking,” he told the BBC – calling on the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories to “determine how we proceed”.Conservatives have said that backbenchers are now “definitely” having conversations on how to replace Mr Johnson in 2022 following a turbulent couple of months.One “red wall” MP told The Independent Mr Johnson’s opponents in the party could easily gather the 55 signatures required for the 1922 Committee of backbenchers to initiate a vote of no confidence – but they won’t move until they have dozens more behind his removal.Ms Truss was reportedly “quietly wooing” fellow Conservatives in recent weeks in the event of a contest, but a spokesperson for the foreign secretary said “she meets MPs regularly to discuss foreign policy, and previously trade policy”.Allies of Mr Sunak are also said to have been sounding out fellow Tory MPs for support for a leadership bid if a contest were to take place.According to regular ConservativeHome surveys, Ms Truss remains the most popular cabinet member among Tory supporters. She maintains her commanding lead over other ministers – a position she has held for over a year – with a net satisfaction of +82.However, the latest poll numbers suggest that Mr Sunak is the most popular choice to take over at No 10 with the wider public.A survey by research firm Redfield & Wilton found that 43 per cent of adults surveyed said Mr Sunak would make a better prime minister than Mr Johnson. By comparison, only 23 per cent of voters said Ms Truss would make a better PM. More

Boris Johnson claims he thought Downing Street party was ‘work event’Calls for Boris Johnson to resign have intensified after the prime minister admitted at PMQs that he had attended an illegal party in the garden of No 10 during the height of the first lockdown. Although Mr Johnson apologised to the British public for his actions, he tried to lessen the blow by claiming he had mistakenly taken the gathering for a “work event”. Senior Tory Roger Gale had no truck with this excuse, saying the prime minister was a “dead man walking”. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP also called on the prime minister to do “the decent thing” and resign his position. “The prime minister is a man without shame,” Labour leader Keir Starmer told the Commons at PMQs.After his apology, Mr Johnson said he would not be commenting further on the incident until the end of a civil service investigation into the Downing Street parties. This was greeted by boos from the opposition benches. Show latest update

1641998395Rishi Sunak skips PMQs There was one highly notable absence at PMQs earlier…Chancellor Rishi Sunak decided to avoid the PM’s awkward grilling by escaping to Devon for the day. Mr Sunak, the favourite to replace Boris Johnson at No 10, said he was “excited” to be in Ilfracombe with North Devon Tory MP Selaine Saxby, where he visited a purifying pharmaceutical company, which recently created 200 new jobs. Rory Sullivan12 January 2022 14:391641996956No 10 party was ‘thank you’ to Dominic Raab, says Tory MPIn a new development to the No 10 party saga, a Conservative MP has claimed the event was a thank you to deputy prime minister Dominic Raab for stepping in during Boris Johnson’s illness early in the pandemic.Simon Hoare told Sky News: “As I understand it, and this is a third-hand understanding, this was a party organised to say, in the first instance, welcome back prime minister.“He had been in hospital, I think I’ve got the timeline right, and recuperating at Chequers.“It was also a way of saying thank you to Dominic Raab for holding the fort.“So whether the prime minister knew it was taking place or whether everybody just jumped out of the shrubbery and said ‘Surprise’, I don’t know.”The North Dorset MP added that he was unsure if Mr Johnson’s premiership would survive. Rory Sullivan12 January 2022 14:151641996100Johnson ‘a dead man walking,’ says senior Tory MPOur deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports:One Conservative MP has given a snap judgement on Boris Johnson’s confession that he was at the No 10 garden party – concluding he “misled” the Commons with his previous denials.“Politically, the prime minister is a dead man walking,“ Roger Gale said – calling on the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories to ”determine how we proceed”.Sir Roger pointed out that Mr Johnson previously told the Commons that he had been “assured that these allegations were unfounded and that no Covid rules were broken”.“There is no history of bring a bottle work events at Downing Street,” the MP told BBC Radio 4 – ridiculing the prime minister’s defence that he somehow did not know that the party was a party.However, Sir Roger is a well-known Johnson opponent – and other Tories are willing to wait for the verdict of Sue Gray, the senior civil servant leading the ‘partygate’ investigation.Stephen Hammond, a former minister, told the BBC: “It clearly was not a work event and that is the problem.”But Mr Hammond echoed other Conservatives in saying he had “earned the right for us to wait and see what Sue Gray says”.Sam Hancock12 January 2022 14:011641995449Watch: PM apologises for attending lockdown partyUK PM Boris Johnson apologises for attending lockdown partySam Hancock12 January 2022 13:501641995371PM’s apology all about denying personal liability, says barristerInteresting analysis here by human rights barrister Adam Wagner, highlighting the fact Boris Johnson’s apology sought to explicitly deny personal liability. The suggestion is, then, that if Sue Gray concludes rules were broken, the PM will continue to claim he “implicitly” believed the event he attended was work-related, effectively pleading ignorance to avoid having to resign. “Also, PM has probably been advised that the only possible personal liability would be as an accessory to others’ criminal offences (he wasn’t outside of his home so not subject to the restriction on movement regulation). So has to say he ‘implicitly’ didn’t believe it broke rules.”Read Wagner’s full thread here:Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:491641994702Tory MP ‘sends tombstone emoji after PMQs’Boris Johnson appears to be facing just as much trouble internally as he is from competing political forces, following the revelation that he himself attended a potentially lockdown-breaching event. Isabel Hardman, assistant editor of the right-wing Spectator magazine, tweeted to say a Tory MP had sent her an emoji of a tombstone following today’s PMQs. Meanwhile, senior Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, who is a staunch critic of Mr Johnson’s, questioned the validity of the PM’s argument that he attended a BYOB gathering – but thought it was a work event. “Very thin ice indeed,” he said of the PM’s position this afternoon. Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:381641994298‘He needs to go’: More calls for PM to resignMPs are continuing to call for Boris Johnson to resign after he admitted to attending a BYOB “work event” during lockdown.Labour MP Toby Perkins said Boris Johnson has “debased” the office of PM. “We all know the Prime Minister was sacked from two previous jobs for lying,” the Chesterfield representative told colleagues in the Commons.“So, can he explain to the House why he believes that the great office of prime minister can be held to a lower standard than those previous jobs that he was sacked from?”The PM responded to Mr Perkins by suggesting to him “respectfully that he waits until the inquiry [into No 10 parties] is concluded, which I hope will be as soon as possible”.Elsewhere, a Conservative voter and former party member told reporters the PM “is finished”. John Coleman, 47, an English teacher from Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, said he may vote Labour in the next election because of the admission by the PM that he attended a party at Downing Street.“I speak as a conservative voter and former party member… This government needs to fall and it needs to fall now!! Amoral leadership #JohnsonOutNow,” he said on Twitter. Speaking to the PA news agency, he added: “At the moment it is highly unlikely I will vote Conservative next time round. There are too many sycophants and lightweights in Cabinet and an amoral clown at the top. He is finished … he needs to resign.”Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:311641993674Celebrities weigh-in on PM’s No 10 party apologyPiers Morgan has said Boris Johnson is in “big trouble” after apologising for attending an illegal party at No 10 in May 2020.Watching the scenes in parliament as they were televised, the former Good Morning Britain co-host tweeted: “Boris Johnson says he thought the massive p***-up in his No10 back garden was a ‘work event’. More pathetic lies that negate any sincerity with his apology.“Humiliating PMQs for @BorisJohnson – and very telling unsupportive silence from most of his own MPs/ministers as opposition leaders all call for him to resign. He’s in big trouble.”Meanwhile, game show Pointless co-host Richard Osman joked: “I’m going to need a couple of stiff workplace events to get over this.”Our culture reporter Isobel Lewis has the full story:Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:211641993266PM’s apology takes Britons ‘for fools,’ says Rayner Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, has given her verdict following Boris Johnson’s apology in the Commons today. She says the PM “attended a party, and now he is treating [the British public] like fools by suggesting he doesn’t know what a party is”.Sam Hancock12 January 2022 13:141641992337Watch: PM ‘completely destroyed’ Allegra Stratton’s career Chris Bryant has said the prime minister “completely destroyed” the career of Allegra Stratton, his former political aide, but was not willing to take proper responsibility for his own actions. The Labour MP told the Commons: “I mean how stupid does the prime minister think the British people are. The worst of it is he’s already managed to completely destroy Allegra Stratton’s career, he’s tarnished the reputation of Lord Geidt, and now he’s making fools of every single MP who cheered him earlier, every single one who goes out on the radio and television to defend this shower of shenanigans.“Would it not be absolutely despicable if, in the search for a scapegoat, some junior member of staff ends up losing their job, but he kept his?”Labour MP says Boris Johnson ‘completely destroyed’ Allegra Stratton’s careerRory Sullivan12 January 2022 12:58 More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak decided to skip the awkward grilling of Boris Johnson at PMQs over the partygate scandal, travelling 200 miles from London to discuss a jobs announcement.Mr Sunak – the favourite to replace Mr Johnson at No 10 according to bookmakers and polling of the public – headed to Ilfracombe in Devon on Wednesday.Rather than offer support to the beleaguered prime minister in the House of Commons, Mr Sunak chose to visit a company purifying pharmaceutical drugs.Mr Sunak said he was “excited” to be in the town with North Devon Tory MP Selaine Saxby, and said the Pall Corporation was investing £60m at the site and creating 200 new jobs.Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves made a dig at her opposite number by tweeting a card saying “The Invisible Chancellor”, adding: “On today of all days, where is the chancellor?”Mr Johnson apologised for attending a “bring your own booze” gathering in the No 10 garden 10 during England’s first lockdown in May 2020. He acknowledged the public “rage” over the incident, but also claimed thought it could have been technically within the rules.Tory MP Sir Roger concluded that Mr Johnson had “misled” the Commons with his previous denials. “Politically, the prime minister is a dead man walking,” he told the BBC – calling on the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories to “determine how we proceed”.As the PM battles to save his premiership, bookmakers slashed the ideas of a new prime minister this year. Mr Johnson is now odds-on to be replaced in 2022, according to one leading betting firm.Mr Sunak is the favourite to replace Mr Johnson if there is a leadership contest, narrowly ahead of foreign secretary Liz Truss. The chancellor is 9/4 to be the next PM while Ms Truss is 22/5, according to Oddschecker, a comparison site compiling odds from leading British bookmakers.According to regular ConservativeHome surveys Ms Truss remains the most popular cabinet member among Tory supporters, but the latest poll numbers suggest that Mr Sunak is the most popular choice to take over at No 10 with the wider public. More

Tory MPs in ‘Red Wall’ seats are telling a beleaguered Boris Johnson to act on the cost-of-living crisis or “end up out of power”, in a new challenge to his authority.The Northern Research Group of 70 MPs is warning that voters who put the prime minister in No 10 that they will “lose trust in us” unless taxes and fuel bills are slashed.Jake Berry, the group’s founder – and formerly a close ally of Mr Johnson – pointed to the way Labour lost seats across the North and Midlands at the 2019 general election, because it didn’t “understand” voters.And he warned: “I worry that, unless there is urgent action on the cost of living, millions of voters who switched to the Tories in 2019 are going to lose trust in us after just one term.“It is sadly undeniable that we are all going to struggle to make ends meet over the next few months,” Mr Berry said, adding: “We can all see this crisis coming, so now is the time to act.”The group’s three-point plan would spare poorer households from the hike in National Insurance contributions in April, by lifting the threshold for paying the tax to £12,570.The MPs are also demanding a two-year freeze to council tax – to prevent bills also soaring in April – arguing local authorities can dip into their reserves instead.Third, ‘green levies’ would be removed from domestic fuel bills for one year, to ease the pain of a predicted £600 leap in the energy price cap, also from April.“This triple whammy is creating a cost of living crisis and it is going to hurt,” said Mr Berry, writing in The Sun.“Our simple, three-point plan would put hundreds of pounds back into your pocket and demonstrate it is the Conservative Party that is the true party of the North and in touch and on the side of our hard-pressed working families.” More

Boris Johnson has apologised for attending a party in the Downing Street garden during lockdown — but insisted he thought it was a “work event”.It comes after a leaked email showed over 100 No 10 staff were invited to a drinks gathering in the rose garden of Downing Street on 20 May, 2020, while the country was still subject to strict Covid lockdown restrictions.After days of stonewalling questions, the prime minister told MPs he acknowledged the “rage” of the public “with me and with the government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules”.“And though I cannot anticipate the conclusions of the current inquiry, I have learned enough to know there were things we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility,” he said at prime minister’s questions.He told the Commons: “No 10 is a big department with a garden as an extension of the office which has been in constant use because of the role of fresh air in stopping the virus.“When I went into that garden just after six on May 20, 2020, to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 minutes later to continue working, I believed implicitly that this was a work event.”But “with hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside, I should have found some other way to thank them, and I should have recognised that — even if it could have been said technically to fall within the guidance — there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way.”Reacting to his statement, the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, called on the prime minister to resign and told him: “The party’s over”.Speaking in the Commons, Sir Keir said: “There we have it. After months of deceit and deception, the pathetic spectacle of a man who has run out of road.“His defence … that he didn’t realise he was at a party is so ridiculous that it’s actually offensive to the British public. He’s finally been forced to admit what everyone knew, that when the whole country was locked down he was hosting boozing parties in Downing Street. Is he now going to do the decent thing and resign?”But Mr Johnson said: “I appreciate the point that he’s making about the event that I attended. I want to repeat that I thought it was a work event and I regret very much that we did not do things differently that evening.“I take responsibility and I apologise. But as for his political point, I don’t think that he should pre-empt the outcome of the inquiry. He will have a further opportunity, I hope, to question me as soon as possible.”There were some cheers from Conservative MPs as Mr Johnson entered the Commons chamber, but the mood on Tory benches was gloomy as the PM fended off repeated calls for his resignation from the opposition.There were no expressions of anger from Tory MPs over the party row during the 40-minute grilling, but many stared ahead in stony silence as the prime minister offered his apology.There were guffaws of derision from the opposition benches for those Conservatives who pitched Mr Johnson soft questions over washing machines, bus services and tourism. Some speculated that whips had struggled to find MPs willing to support the prime minister in this way.Earlier this week, the email sent by Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, invited staff in No 10 to “bring your own booze” to the event on 20 May 2020, was leaked to ITV News, provoking outrage among MPs and the public.Just an hour before the event Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, had told the public at a No 10 press conference they must not meet with more than one other person from another household in an outside setting.Mr Johnson had sidestepped questions over his own involvement in the 20 May, 2020 event when questioned by reporters on Monday, insisting it was a matter for Sue Gray — the senior civil servant tasked with examining allegations of rule-breaking.Just last night, a poll also showed around two-thirds (66 per cent) of voters believed Mr Johnson should stand down as prime minister. More

Boris Johnson apologised ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday for attending a Downing Street party during lockdown in May 2020.Here is his statment to the House of Commons in full.Mr Johnson said: “I want to apologise. I know that millions of people across this country have made extraordinary sacrifices over the last 18 months.”I know the anguish they have been through – unable to mourn their relatives, unable to live their lives as they want, or to do the things they love.”I know the rage they feel with me and with the Government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules.”And though I cannot anticipate the conclusions of the current inquiry, I have learned enough to know there were things we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility.”No 10 is a big department with a garden as an extension of the office which has been in constant use because of the role of fresh air in stopping the virus.”When I went into that garden just after six on May 20 2020, to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 minutes later to continue working, I believed implicitly that this was a work event.”With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside. I should have found some other way to thank them.”I should have recognised that even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there are millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way, people who have suffered terribly, people who were forbidden from meeting loved ones at all inside or outside, and to them and to this House I offer my heartfelt apologies.”All I ask is that Sue Gray be allowed to complete her inquiry into that day and several others so that the full facts can be established.”I will of course come back to this House and make a statement.” More