A picture of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has emerged appearing to show him raising a glass at an alleged Downing Street party during the second coronavirus lockdown.
The set of four pictures, published by ITV News and reported on by the Mirror, clearly shows the Prime Minister accompanied by a group of aides around a table covered in bottles of alcohol and party food. Sources told the ITV that the photos were taken at a leaving do for his communications chief Lee Cain on November 13, 2020.
Eight days earlier, Mr Johnson had imposed England’s second national lockdown, which lasted four weeks. At the time the party supposedly took place, indoor social gatherings were banned by the government between people form separate households.
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Despite the rules at the time, the Prime Minister appears to have made a toast next to two bottles of champagne or cava as well as four bottle of wine and half a bottle of gin.
Mr Johnson was not fined by the Metropolitan Police over the event seen in the images.
Downing Street declined to defend the scene portrayed, saying the Prime Minister will comment after the Sue Gray report into partygate is published in the coming days.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “The Cabinet Office and the Met Police have had access to all information relevant to their investigations, including photographs.
“The Met have concluded their investigation and Sue Gray will publish her report in the coming days, at which point the Prime Minister will address Parliament in full.”
The photos were leaked on the eve of Sue Gray's Partygate report and emerged five months after Mr Johnson denied such a party ever taking place on November 13, 2020. On December 8, he was asked by Labour Mp Catherine West: "Will the Prime Minister tell the House whether there was a party in Downing Street on the 13th of November?"
Mr Johnson replied: "No. But I’m sure that, whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times." Labour Deputy leader Angela Rayner remarked: "“While the British public were making huge sacrifices, Boris Johnson was breaking the law.
“Boris Johnson said repeatedly that he knew nothing about law-breaking – there’s no doubt now, he lied. Boris Johnson made the rules, and then broke them.
“The Prime Minister has demeaned his office. The British people deserve better. While Labour has a plan for tackling the cost-of-living crisis, Tory MPs are too busy defending the indefensible actions of Boris Johnson.”
Earlier today, former top aide Dominic Cummings warned that the Prime Minister will face the backlash of the publication of Partygate photos "within the next 24-48 hours". Adding onto the fire, he remarked that the photos prove Mr Johnson "obviously lied to the Commons and possibly to the cops."
The Sue Gray report, which is expected to be published on Tuesday or Wednesday, is expected to include photographs of events involved in the Party gate scandal. The civil servant handed more than 300 images to Scotland Yard which came from her investigation.
Mr Cummings added: "One of the consequences is that I expect photos of the PM will emerge very quickly, within the next 24-48 hours.
"Any reasonable person looking at some of these photos will only be able to conclude that the PM obviously lied to the Commons, and possibly to the cops, and there is no reasonable story for how others were fined for event X but not him."
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