Boris’ ‘bundle’ to be used in Partygate grilling published by committee
A bundle of core documents to be used against Boris Johnson in his live TV grilling over Partygate has been submitted to the Privileges Committee.
The documents will be used as evidence as the former Prime Minister faces the music today over his rule-breaking lockdown parties during the pandemic.
There was said to be late-night wrangling between Johnson’s lawyers and the committee over what the bundle would include.
Yesterday Mr Johnson submitted a 52-page written evidence document that will form his defence over the lockdown scandal.
He is said to have broken the rules set by his government on a number of occasions at leaving parties and his own birthday party, during the pandemic.
Boris’ former principal private secretary Martin Reynolds expressed regret at his ‘bring your own booze’ party invite in the evidence.
In written evidence to the Privileges Committee, he said: ‘With the benefit of hindsight, the language used was totally inappropriate and gave a misleading impression of the nature of the event.
‘It was an event held because staff needed a morale boost after an extremely difficult period when all sorts of tensions had begun to surface and I hoped that being thanked by the PM and talking to each other might strengthen their sense of being part of one team.
‘The event was not a party in any normal sense of the word.’
In the documents submitted one No 10 official warned Boris Johnson’s former principal private secretary Martin Reynolds that the ‘bring your own booze’ party in Downing Street was a ‘bad idea’.
According to the papers, the official said: ‘I saw the invite and I expressed my concern to Martin that I thought this was a bad idea. I declined the invitation.
‘I heard that there were so many people who were unhappy about the party that they were not going to go.’
Johnson’s former communications chief Lee Cain said it would have been ‘highly unusual’ for him not to have raised concerns with Boris Johnson about a garden party in No 10 during the Covid lockdown.
Mr Cain said he could not remember if he personally had a conversation with the Prime Minister about it, but stated that he told Mr Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings about his concerns over the May 20, 2020 gathering.
Evidence published by the committee shows Mr Cain initially raised his doubts about the event in response to an email from the then prime minister’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds inviting staff to the ‘socially distanced drinks’.
Mr Cain said he told Mr Cummings about his concerns who ‘agreed it should not take place and said he would raise the issue with Martin and the prime minister’.
He added: ‘I do not recall if I personally had a conversation with the PM about the garden party but it would have been highly unusual for me not to have raised a potentially serious communications risk with the PM directly – especially having raised it with his PPS and the matter remaining unresolved.’
To Mr Cain, ‘it was clear observing all who attended and the layout of the event that this was purely a social function’.
The core bundle made up of 110 pages can be found here.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.