MPs investigating whether Boris Johnson lied to MPs over Partygate have said rule-breaking would have been "obvious" to him - because he was at some of the gatherings.
The Commons Privileges Committee released a bombshell dossier today with new pictures of the lockdown-flouting bashes that brought about the ex-Prime Minister's downfall.
WhatsApp messages seen by MPs show that No10 officials were worried about potential leaks of images showing Mr Johnson at a “piss up” - SEVEN months before the Mirror first exposed lockdown boozing in No10 and Whitehall.
Mr Johnson's comms chief was "struggling" to see how parties were within the rules and said one excuse "blows another great gaping hole in the PM's account".
The MPs are probing whether the ex-PM deliberately misled Parliament when he claimed no rules had been broken.
A 24-page report sets out the struggles by the committee to obtain evidence - and examples of No10 communications chiefs trying to find excuses for some of the bashes.
It lays bare the questions Mr Johnson will have to answer when he is summoned to give evidence to MPs in a live showdown in the week of March 20.
Labour's Angela Rayner said the evidence was "damning" against Mr Johnson - and said Rishi Sunak "sat on his hands" while the rule-breaking was going on.
Mr Johnson released a statement bizarrely claiming the report showed he was being "vindicated" as he tried to suggest a stitch-up by moaning that Partygate investigator Sue Gray was moving to work for Keir Starmer.
But 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."
Misleading Parliament is a serious offence. Mr Johnson could be booted from the Commons if he is found to have done so.
Mr Johnson's assertion to MPs on December 8 2021 that no rules or guidance had been broken in No10 is at the heart of the row which triggered the end of his premiership.
The Met Police and Whitehall enforcer Sue Gray both found that rules had been breached - with 126 fines issued to staff by police for attending bashes, including Mr Johnson himself.
The committee questioned what Mr Johnson said about his own knowledge of the gatherings where the rules or guidance had been broken - because there is evidence that he attended them.
MPs visited No10 last month and found Mr Johnson could have seen any gatherings in the Downing Street press office when he walked upstairs to his flat.
“Mr Johnson is said by witnesses to have seen press office gatherings on his way to the No10 flat, and to have occasionally joined these gatherings when his attendance had not been planned,” the report said.
And it raised doubts about his claim that he "relied upon repeated assurances that the rules had not been broken".
The report includes conversations between Mr Johnson's advisors who were trying to figure out what to say to the press and in Parliament.
The committee noted that they were "struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules".
Damning WhatsApps given to the committee show Downing Street's then-communications director and a No 10 official discussing the birthday gathering held for Mr Johnson in the Cabinet Room in June 2020.
Messages in January 2022 show the comms chief asking if there is any legal advice on the birthday party.
He then said: "Haven’t heard any explanation of how it’s in the rules."
A No10 official said they were struggling to "do some Q&A, it’s not going well” to which the comms boss replied: "I’m struggling to come up with a way this one is in the rules in my head."
He tried to suggest the PM was eating his lunch but the official admits "the cake thing is it is difficult”
Responding to a suggestion that it could be described 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?"'
One No 10 official in another exchange said a colleague was "worried about leaks of PM having a piss-up and to be fair I don't think it's unwarranted".
MPs may have also been misled when Mr Johnson said Sue Gray needed to establish the facts of what happened.
"While repeatedly making that statement to the House he appears to have had personal knowledge that he did not reveal," the report said.
Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said: "The evidence in this report is absolutely damning on the conduct of Boris Johnson, not just in the crime but the cover up.
"All the while, Rishi Sunak sat on his hands, living and working next door but doing nothing to end the rule breaking.
In a statement, Mr Johnson said: "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."
He said he "relied upon advice from officials" so when he told MPs "that the rules and the guidance had been followed, that was my honest belief".
He said it is "surreal" and "particularly concerning" to discover the committee was partially relying on findings from Ms Gray following the news of her imminent appointment as Keir Starmer's chief of staff.
Mr Johnson said: "I leave it to others to decide how much confidence may now be placed in her inquiry and in the reports that she produced."
