A new photograph has emerged of Boris Johnson and Downing Street staff members gathered in the garden of Number 10, alongside cheese and wine, during the first UK lockdown.
The event, which has been described by Downing Street as a work meeting, reportedly took place on 15 May 2020 after a live televised press conference.
When the photo is said to have been taken, the UK Covid rules prevented different households from gathering and outdoors meetings were restricted to just one-on-one while indoor gatherings were strictly forbidden.
The photo, obtained by The Guardian, showed Johnson, his then-fiancee Carrie, and 17 other staff members in the garden, with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard on a table in front of the prime minister.
NEW: Downing Street staff and Boris Johnson pictured drinking wine in the No 10 garden last May when the rest of the country was limited to meeting just one other person socially outdoors.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) December 19, 2021
Via @guardian https://t.co/Am9Z0qUxo1 pic.twitter.com/T7VTL2nSwh
The Guardian adds that, along with cheese and wine, others spirits and pizza were available to those in attendance indoors. A spokesperson for the prime minister said: “The picture shows colleagues meeting in a place of work.
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“As we said last week, work meetings often take place in the Downing Street garden in the summer months. On this occasion, there were staff meetings after a No 10 press conference.
“Downing Street is the prime minister’s home as well as his workplace. The prime minister’s wife lives in No 10 and therefore also legitimately uses the garden.”
When asked about the photo on Times Radio, deputy prime minister and justice secretary Dominic Raab said having a drink “after a long day or long week” was not against the regulations. He added: “Downing Street used that garden as a place of work. They used it for work meetings. The photo is from a day when, I think, the prime minister had just done a press conference.
“And sometimes they’ll have a drink after a long day or a long week. And that’s not against the regulations.”
On Johnson’s then-fiancee Carrie being there, Raab said: “It is not just a place of work for all the staff that work in Number 10 and the prime minister, but it is also the residence of the prime minister and his very young family. I genuinely don’t think it gets classified as a party because Carrie popped down and spent a little bit of time there with her husband.”
Considering that this is now one of now numerous allegations of government gatherings and parties happening during, the reaction to the story wasn’t particularly positive.
In May 2020 I cycled through Hyde Park and police in a big armoured truck were shouting “GO HOME” through a megaphone at someone sitting on a bench. https://t.co/PcO8R833Ja
— Justin Myers (@theguyliner) December 19, 2021
The thing I am most troubled by tonight is the real sense that governance isn't taking place.
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) December 19, 2021
In May 2020 I proposed to my long-suffering better half. We cycled around East London while I nervously tried to find the best spot. I considered stopping in Victoria Park, before men in hi-viz vests started screaming thru megaphones that it was illegal to sit down. Good times! https://t.co/yawzEtK755
— Robert Smith (@BondHack) December 19, 2021
May 2020.
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) December 19, 2021
The guidance:
“Social mixing between households limited to 2 people outdoors at least 2 metres apart.
In workplaces, in-person meetings only if absolutely necessary”
Boris Johnson: pic.twitter.com/VZm0t4fE5F
this photo looks less shocking than it should, because we're used to outdoor socialising now... but at the time it was taken many park benches were still covered in police tape. real 'rules are for little people' stuff https://t.co/Nh56cLuPrs
— Jon Stone (@joncstone) December 19, 2021
May 2020:
— Femi (@Femi_Sorry) December 19, 2021
I went on a first date in a park.
Stayed 2m apart.
I serenaded her on my digital piano.
Rules meant we barely met until July.
One of many relationships that didn't survive 2020.
Meanwhile
Boris was hosting Downing Street Garden parties.
Hancock was shagging colleagues.
No evidence of any work going on. Lack of pens, paper, laptops etc just wine and cheese. Eating out to help out themselves as per. pic.twitter.com/fil76Vc3p4
— Kath 💙🙀😷❄️🇪🇺✊🏾 (@KathyBurke) December 20, 2021
I guess staff meetings look a bit different if you went to Eton?
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) December 19, 2021
Enough is enough. Tell us the truth about what was going on in Downing Street from the very beginning immediately @BorisJohnson https://t.co/Ovrs9Z5Zxh
Every time they pull this ‘we were working together anyway’ crap I think of all the schools that closed their staffrooms, meaning teachers couldn’t even get a bloody cup of tea, and they had spent the day WORKING WITH LOADS OF PUPILS. pic.twitter.com/KTK5scnCl6
— Laura McInerney (@miss_mcinerney) December 19, 2021
Of course, there were some more amusing reactions to the image which has already been given the meme and joke treatment.
Fixed it pic.twitter.com/IdICfL5ZpF
— The Poke (@ThePoke) December 20, 2021
Cummings visibly sulking because nobody wants to play Settlers of Catan pic.twitter.com/9qz1mbVHfo
— Ben Machell (@ben_machell) December 19, 2021
#theresmore pic.twitter.com/ZHJ1XFXqws
— Ireland Simpsons Fans (@iresimpsonsfans) December 19, 2021
I'm not sure No10 can survive this pic.twitter.com/RBDxaBkaUi
— Alain Tolhurst (@Alain_Tolhurst) December 19, 2021
Might be a bit groggy on the show tomorrow. Please be gentle. Having a 'work meeting' in the garden tonight.
— James Oh Brien (@mrjamesob) December 19, 2021
I too love to take business meetings with red wine, cheese, no notes or visible agenda, with my wife next to me for moral support pic.twitter.com/Ezsm2VO0Ex
— Zing Tsjeng (@misszing) December 19, 2021
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) December 19, 2021
What is this guy doing? pic.twitter.com/mvcXrsawLd
— Barry Glendenning (@bglendenning) December 19, 2021
Eventually there's just going to be a photo of him making out with a bat https://t.co/m0opezKi9j
— Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar) December 19, 2021
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) December 20, 2021
Wait a goddamn minute pic.twitter.com/qwEKBNxpyp
— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) December 20, 2021
In response to the photo, Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told Good Morning Britain: “Last year the government were partying, this year the government’s hiding.
“We need leadership from this government and that is desperately lacking today. This is a government who set the rules for everybody else and yet think they don’t apply for them. It is not acceptable.”
Raab did later appear to undermine the notion that this was a picture of a work meeting. He told BBC Breakfast: “I think there’s a lot of exhausted people and they, as people do in work, have a drink after – after the formal business had been done.
“This wasn’t a social occasion. It was staff having a drink after a busy set of work meetings and the pressures of the day.”
Raab also protested that: “They’re all in suits, predominantly in formal attire,” which naturally triggered a lot more memes.
Dominic Raab’s justification for the garden gathering: “It’s a place of work. They’re all in suits, predominantly in formal attire... They might have a drink after the formal business has ended”. pic.twitter.com/LMZ20biNjn
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) December 20, 2021
It was a staff meeting pic.twitter.com/24U7fiQxRd
— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) December 19, 2021
‘Your honour, my client can’t be guilty as he’s mainly worn suits or predominantly business attire’ pic.twitter.com/W5TD9tZUQq
— Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) December 20, 2021
"This wasn't a social occasion, it was staff having a drink after meetings." pic.twitter.com/F4Q4lq111Y
— David Whitley (@mrdavidwhitley) December 20, 2021
"This wasn't a social occasion, it was staff having a drink after meetings." pic.twitter.com/Fc5tkrVKLX
— Adam Macqueen (@adam_macqueen) December 20, 2021
Dominic Raab explaining how things work at number 10: pic.twitter.com/VvmWTMREyH
— ︎dean dong merrily on high (@DeanRed123) December 20, 2021
How can it be a robbery? They're all in suits. pic.twitter.com/gIa9cOS1n9
— Robert Hutton (@RobDotHutton) December 20, 2021
Additional reporting from PA.
