Inside Politics: Partygate scandal deepens as details of PM’s birthday bash emerge

Boris Johnson is this morning rocked by another partygate allegation, with a new report saying he had a birthday party in Downing Street during the first Covid lockdown. No 10 is not denying that the indoor gathering took place but is pushing back against some of the details within the story. Elsewhere, fears of war between Russia and Ukraine are escalating as the US puts 8,500 troops on standby, ready to be deployed to eastern Europe.

Inside the bubble

Commons action kicks off at 11.30am with Foreign Office questions. These are followed by any urgent questions or statements. After that, Tory MP Huw Merriman has a ten minute rule bill on protecting consumers who are double charged. Later, the main business will be report stage consideration of the Judicial Review and Courts Bill, which aims to prevent certain forms of judicial review. Labour’s Liam Byrne has an adjournment debate on the Bromford Estate in his constituency.

The Commons Standards Committee will hear from 18 witnesses across seven panels throughout today and tomorrow. They’ll be discussing the registers of interests, MPs’ outside roles, and standards more generally in Westminster. The committee will take evidence from Lord Evans this morning then hear from a number of journalists, including Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, later.

Coming up:

– Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy on Sky News at 8.05am

– Transport secretary Grant Shapps on ITV GMB at 8.30am

CAKE RUNNING OUT?: The PM is once again under severe pressure over partygate and facing fresh calls to resign after it emerged he had a birthday bash in Downing Street, with up to 30 people present, during the first Covid lockdown when indoor socialising was against the law. The Independent has seen evidence suggesting that Johnson had a cake with candles which he blew out after attendees finished singing happy birthday at around 2pm on 19 June 2020. No 10 did not deny the gathering took place, claiming that the PM only popped in his head for “10 minutes”. The spokesperson did however push back on a second allegation that a separate bash took place later that evening, in the flat above No 11, which Johnson shares with wife Carrie and their children. Both allegations were first reported by ITV News.

‘GOT TO GO’: As you might expect, the story splashes the front of nearly every single paper and news website this morning and is likely to spark a fresh wave of anger among people who were unable to visit sick loved ones during the lockdown. The Sun goes with, “You can’t have your birthday cake and eat it, Boris,” playing on the words of a maxim adhered to by Johnson and one which has served him so well throughout his political career. The Labour Party has repeated calls for that career in No 10 Downing Street to end. Speaking after the report emerged last night, Keir Starmer said his opposite number had become a “national distraction”, adding: “He’s got to go”. One Tory MP – who has been considering whether to send a letter of no-confidence in Johnson to the 1922 Committee of backbenchers – told The Independent the claims made the PM’s position more precarious. “There’s a sense of shock about these allegations. A lot of us are still getting our heads around it. I think many MPs will still wait to hear what Sue Gray says. But it’s going to make it more difficult for him to survive.” We’ll bring you all the reaction to the latest partygate on our politics liveblog which can be found here.

TRENCH WARFARE: The latest partygate report came just hours after Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former chief aide who is actively trying to remove him from office, revealed that he had submitted evidence to the Gray investigation by letter rather than interview, as had been expected on Monday. He claimed, in a post on his Substack blog, that if he spoke to Gray in person, it would give the PM and No 10 the chance to spin his account of events. He also claimed that No 10 staff were withholding evidence from the inquiry out of fear, as previously reported by The Independent, adding that this would only cause further headaches for the PM down the road as the evidence is leaked to the press. In a separate post on Twitter, the former Vote Leave supremo also issued a clear and ominous warning to Tory MPs:“Expect the parties story to roll on after report cos photos etc will not be given to the Cabinet Office. MPs must scrap [Mr Johnson] if they want the nightmare to end.”

RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: Away from partygate, the spectre of war between Russia and Ukraine continues to loom large as Moscow ramps up its presence on the border. It looks increasingly like Vladimir Putin’s troops will invade Ukraine. The US government announced overnight that it is placing 8,500 combat-ready military personnel on heightened alert to potentially deploy to Eastern Europe. Johnson, along with leaders from several other European countries, the EU council and Nato, spoke to Biden last night, with a Downing Street read out of the conversation saying he and the president “agreed on the importance of international unity in the face of growing Russian hostility,” while stressing that “diplomatic discussions with Russia remain the first priority.” Earlier on Monday a former prime minister of Australia branded comments made by Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, “demented” after she claimed China could exploit a Russian invasion of Ukraine to launch its own attacks in the Pacific.

NO ENGAGEMENT: An imam appointed by the government to draw up a definition of Islamophobia says he has received no “meaningful engagement” from ministers in years. Qari Asim MBE was commissioned to lead an official process in 2019, but told The Independent that the work “didn’t really start”, and letters to ministers as recently as last month have gone unanswered. The intervention came as a row over fresh Islamophobia allegations engulfed the Conservative Party, after MP Nusrat Ghani said she was sacked as a minister because of colleagues’ concerns about her “Muslimness”.

“A group of staff working in No 10 that day gathered briefly in the Cabinet Room after a meeting to wish the prime minister a happy birthday. He was there for less than ten minutes.”

No 10 spokesperson says PM just ducked in and out of birthday bash.

“This is totally untrue. In line with the rules at the time the Prime Minister hosted a small number of family members outside that evening.”

Spokesperson denies there was a separate gathering in the No 10 flat.

“If the facts of this are accurate then I can’t see how it could have been lawful.19 June 2020 - indoor gatherings of 2 or more were banned unless it fell within a list of exceptions. Birthday parties (or any social gatherings) were not an exception.”

Barrister and lockdown laws expert Adam Wagner on latest party report.

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