Boris Johnson: Downing Street staff invited to lockdown-breaking party, leaked

“Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze!” the email added.

A source who worked in Downing Street at the time has confirmed the contents of the email independently to CNN.

Two-thirds (66%) of UK adults say that Johnson should resign following allegations that he attended the BYOB social gathering when England was under lockdown, according to a new Savanta ComRes snap poll, published on Tuesday.

And four out of 10 (42%) people who said they voted for Johnson’s Conservative Party in the last election said that he should resign, the poll found. That’s a rise of nine points — from 33% — in people saying he should resign in December.

Hannah Brady, a campaigner for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said her father had died with the virus four days before the email was sent. “At the time, everyone would have known that going to a party was wrong, so how can those running the country have thought it was OK?,” she said in a statement.

“To think that whilst it was happening Boris Johnson was making the ‘most of the weather’ and throwing a party for 100 people, is truly beyond belief,” she added. “Could there be a more disgraceful example of ‘one rule for them, and another rule for the rest of us’?”

Mixing between households was at the time limited to two people, who could only meet outdoors and at a distance of at least 2 meters (6.5 feet). In workplaces, official guidance stated that in-person meetings should only take place if “absolutely necessary.”

Johnson refused to respond to reports that he and his wife, Carrie Johnson, had attended the event when pressed by a journalist on Monday, saying only: “That, as you know, is the subject of a proper investigation by Sue Gray.”

Gray, a senior civil servant, has been tasked with investigating the alleged parties. She took on the role after Cabinet Secretary Simon Case was removed from the probe, following revelations that he had known about a party held in his own department.

Edward Argar, the minister of state for health, also deflected questions on the issue on Tuesday. “I don’t know what did or didn’t happen. All I’ve seen are the reports, the email that was reported yesterday, and various sources quoted by various media and journalistic outlets,” Argar told British broadcaster Sky News.

“That’s why it’s right that this is looked into independently by Sue Gray, and therefore it’d be wrong for me to comment.”

But Keir Starmer, the opposition Labour Party leader, said on Tuesday: “Boris Johnson, your deflections and distractions are absurd.”

“Not only did you know about the parties in Downing Street, you attended them,” Starmer added. “Stop lying to the British public. It’s time to finally come clean.”

And the Metropolitan Police, which has been criticized for refusing to investigate any of the reported parties, said it was “in contact with the Cabinet Office” over the event.

A deepening scandal

Johnson has faced multiple claims that social events were held inside 10 Downing Street in the spring of 2020 and the run up to Christmas that year, when local restrictions barred such gatherings.

When those questions began, Johnson rebuffed them by saying that no parties had taken place and his staffers and aides had followed the rules at all times. But since then a flood of allegations and leaks have shed light on several alleged gatherings.