Partygate

Shaun Bailey resigned as chair of the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee after evidence emerged that he had attended a gathering, where it was alleged that Covid regulations had been broken on 14 December 2020 with Conservative Party staff.

On 5 December, the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab told Andrew Marr that if a "formal party" had taken place "then of course it would be wrong" but that the reports were based on "unsubstantiated, anonymous claims" which is why Downing Street did not respond more directly.

[32] On 8 December, the Metropolitan Police said they had "received a significant amount of correspondence relating to allegations reported in the media” and that this had been “considered by detectives in detail, as well as footage published by ITV News".

[42] Shortly after his resignation, photographs were published of him and over 20 members of staff at a gathering with drinks and a buffet held in the basement of Conservative Campaign Headquarters on 14 December 2020, when he was the party's mayoral candidate.

[46] On 11 November 2022, the police said they would be taking no action over the matter as "the investigation reviewed all the material thoroughly and after careful consideration, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to disprove the version of events provided by attendees to a standard that would meet the threshold required".

Downing Street issued a statement, saying: "On 15 May 2020 the prime minister held a series of meetings throughout the afternoon, including briefly with the then health and care secretary and his team in the garden following a press conference.

[52][53] On 10 January, ITV News showed a 20 May 2020 email sent on behalf of Reynolds to over one hundred 10 Downing Street staff, inviting them "to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden this evening (...) bring your own booze!"

Shipman added that "insiders said Reynolds, his deputy, Stuart Glassborow, Dan Rosenfield, ... and some members of the communications team are likely to be out of a job when a report by the mandarin Sue Gray is published".

Shipman added that an MP likened it to Harold Macmillan's 1962 Night of the Long Knives (when he sacked a third of his cabinet), "Boris is preparing to lay down the lives of his staff to save his own.

The date was the eve of the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, when the UK was observing a period of national mourning, and England was in step two of its lockdown roadmap, with indoor mixing banned.

[88] On 17 January, the Daily Mirror reported that Johnson attended a leaving party for Steve Higham, his former defence advisor, shortly before Christmas 2020 while strict coronavirus restrictions applied in London.

[121] BBC News reported that energy minister, Greg Hands said the resignations came after Johnson "made it clear there would be a shake-up" in Downing Street organisation, following criticism of it in the Gray investigation update.

[124][125] During Prime Minister's Questions on 9 February, the Daily Mirror released another photograph from the 15 December 2020 Christmas quiz, showing Johnson and three other people, one wearing tinsel, one a Santa hat and "what appears to be champagne and a half-eaten packet of crisps".

"[129] When presenting the report to the House of Commons on the afternoon of 25 May 2022, Johnson said he was humbled and took full responsibility, and renewed his apology for the 19 June 2020 Cabinet Office event which led to him receiving a fixed penalty notice (FPN).

[136] In January 2023, ITV News reported allegations from an anonymous source who worked in Downing Street that Johnson had joked to staff at Lee Cain's leaving event (13 November 2020) that "this is the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now".

[140] ITV News also reported allegations that wine time Fridays, end of the week drinks parties held by the Number 10 press office, continued through lockdown with Johnson often attending, without wearing a face mask.

[216] Gray also had access to swipe card and other security data on people's movements in and out of 10 Downing Street,[217] and has talked to police officers who were on duty, whose evidence was described by one source as "extremely damning".

[245] It was also found that there were repeated instances of staff "flouting" the regulations and the investigation gave an extremely critical assessment of the drinking culture in Downing Street,[246] and that several of the events appeared notably drunken and rowdy,[244] and that some went on into the early hours.

Since my update there have been changes to the organisation and management of Downing Street and the Cabinet Office with the aim of creating clearer lines of leadership and accountability and now these need the chance and time to bed in.

[246] Gray explained that she decided to name only the most senior staff, those "who knew about and/or attended an event" or were involved in the organisation of one, adding that was "given their wider responsibility for the leadership and culture of the departments, subject to some limited exceptions based on personal circumstances".

[292] Matt Fowler of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said: "It's plain as day that there was a culture of boozing and rule breaching at the highest level of government, whilst the British public was making unimaginable sacrifices to protect their loved ones and communities".

[298] After labelling the apology as "a joke", and saying the Prime Minister had been "dishonest", Starmer withdrew the remark after being admonished by the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, who found him in breach of the rule that prohibits MPs from accusing each other of dishonesty during debates.

House was also asked why the police officer on duty in Downing Street had not challenged the "large number of people" that Gray's report said he had seen, after responding to a panic alarm, in a "crowded and noisy" event where "some members of staff drank excessively".

[10][11][342] JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin accused Johnson of "hypocrisy", arguing that much of the controversy would have been avoided if Downing Street staff had been able to visit pubs, which at the time were closed due to lockdown restrictions.

[370] By the end of 19 January, some Conservative MPs told the BBC that Wakeford's defection had caused a change in mood, namely that there was a "stepping back" from immediate attempts to obtain a no-confidence vote in Johnson's leadership and a wish to wait until after Sue Gray's report was published.

[376] On 20 January, Conservative MP William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, accused 10 Downing Street staff of threatening him and other colleagues over their opposition to Johnson's leadership.

[410] On 31 May 2022, Andrea Leadsom, a former Conservative minister, wrote, "it is painfully clear to me that given the extent and severity of rule-breaking taking place over a 20-month period, it is extremely unlikely that senior leaders were unaware of what was going on".

[88] Polling by Ipsos MORI in January 2022 found that "lack of faith in politicians and politics" was cited as a major problem facing the country by 25% of the public, the highest recorded since 2016 and "likely related" to the revelations of lockdown parties.

He added, the "ordinary man or woman" may think it was "reasonable to say that perhaps a fixed-penalty notice and the prime minister paying for it may have constituted not meeting the overarching duty of the ministerial code of complying with the law".

[445] Late on the evening of 30 April 2021, before the Hartlepool by-election and local elections, a Labour Party campaign team in Durham, including Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner,[446] were videoed through an office window.