The partygate inquiry has stated that there are strong suggestions that breaches of Covid rules would have been "obvious" to Boris Johnson.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said the House of Commons could have been misled on multiple occasions. The former Prime Minister remarked that a mid-pandemic leaving party in No 10 was “probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now”, according to written evidence.
In WhatsApp messages shown to the inquiry, it was revealed that advisers were "struggling" to conclude how the parties were within the rules in place at the time. One adviser admitted that it "blows another great gaping hole in the PM's account".
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In a statement released by Mr Johnson, he claimed that the inquiry's interim report displayed that he was being "vindicated" after raising concerns around civil service investigator Sue Gray's move to Sir Keir Starmer's office.
However, the committee said: "The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings. There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules.”
The committee also stressed that its inquiry is not based on the Sue Gray report but on evidence stemming from witnesses, WhatsApp messages, emails, and photographs from a Downing Street photographer. One such message between Downing Street’s then-communications director Jack Doyle and a No 10 official discussed the birthday gathering held for Mr Johnson in 2020, for which Mr Johnson was fined by police.
Mr Doyle wrote: “I’m struggling to come up with a way this one is in the rules in my head.”
In response to a suggestion that they describe the event as “reasonably necessary for work purposes”, he said: “Not sure that one works does it? Also blows another great gaping hole in the PM’s account doesn’t it?'”
Another No 10 official said a colleague was "worried about leaks of PM having a piss-up and to be fair I don't think it's unwarranted". The committee plans to cross-examine what Mr Johnson knew after he made a series of denials to the Commons.
On one occasion in December 8, 2021, he told MPs that no rules or guidance were broken in No 10 when Ms Gray and the police had already concluded that was not true. The report adds that MPs were misled by Mr Johnson's assistance that he relied upon repeated assurances that the rules had not been broken.
The committee said: “It appears that Mr Johnson did not correct the statements that he repeatedly made and did not use the well-established procedures of the House to correct something that is wrong at the earliest opportunity.” It added: "While repeatedly making that statement to the House, he appears to have had personal knowledge that he did not reveal."
In a public statement released moments after the report was published, Mr Johnson said: “I believe that their labours have helped establish the obvious truth: It is clear from this report that I have not committed any contempt of Parliament.
“It is also clear that what I have been saying about this matter from the beginning has been vindicated. That is because there is no evidence in the report that I knowingly or recklessly misled Parliament, or that I failed to update Parliament in a timely manner.”
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