Pictures released showing PM drinking at No 10 leaving do during lockdown in November 2020 ITV News’ Paul Brand has obtained photographs of Boris Johnson drinking at a Downing Street event that looks very much like a party. The pictures were taken at a leaving do for Lee Cain, the PM’s director of communications, on 13 November 2020. The images will fuel claims that Johnson was lying when he told MPs more than a year later that all the Covid guidance was followed in Downing Street and that people abided by the rules. Tory MP Peter Bone has said on Newsnight that Boris Johnson and the Met police believe the party was not in fact a party but a work event. Bone said: I think we can all agree it was a work event. Boris Johnson “pressurised Sue Gray to drop” her report into Partygate during a secret meeting earlier this month, The Times is reporting. A source told the paper that the prime minister asked if there was “much point” of publishing the report given that “it’s all out there”. On Monday Downing Street was forced to confirm that the meeting between Johnson and Gray, the civil servant leading an inquiry into Partygate, was instigated by No 10 and not Gray, contradicting the account of a senior minister. Dan Hodges of the Mail on Sunday points out that Boris Johnson will have to explain how he could have not realised he was at a party when he was surrounded by people drinking alcohol. Full story: Latest Boris Johnson photos bring Partygate scandal back into focus Over the almost six months of Partygate, the same narrative has played out repeatedly: just as Boris Johnson seems to have put the saga behind him, new images emerge to refocus everyone’s minds, with a corrosive effect on the prime minister’s image and ratings. Last Thursday when the Metropolitan police inquiry formally closed with just one fine for Johnson, Conservative MPs were exchanging admiring – or in some cases exasperated – messages about how the “greased piglet” had slipped free yet again. There was still the full report to come from the senior civil servant Sue Gray. But supporters of the prime minister were clear – a single fine for a brief appearance at an impromptu birthday celebration did not merit a leadership challenge. Time to move on. The Daily Mail headline on Friday shouted: “What a farcical waste of time and £460,000.” Just three days on, photos showing Johnson in a packed room raising his glass and making a speech during the leaving drinks of the former communications chief Lee Cain on 13 November 2020 make the prime minister’s life difficult again in several interconnected ways. Even after Gray submits her report, Johnson faces an inquiry by a committee of MPs into whether he misled the Commons when he said he knew nothing about social gatherings – an offence which, if demonstrated, would normally lead to resignation. The photos notably weaken Johnson’s defence, not least given a parliamentary exchange from last December in which the prime minister, when asked by the Labour MP Catherine West about events on the date in question, insisted “the rules were followed at all times”. More widely, photos and other images seem to resonate with voters in a way that even repeated descriptions of suitcases of alcohol being wheeled into No 10, and Wilfred Johnson’s swing broken by drunken revellers, do not. A spokesperson for London mayor Sadiq Khan said the final report of Sue Gray – the senior civil servant investigating lockdown violations in Whitehall – must be published in full. The spokesperson said: The mayor has always been clear that nobody is above the law and that those who broke the rules, at a time the public were being asked to make huge sacrifices, must be held accountable for their actions. The mayor understands why Londoners are seeking clarity given these latest revelations. The details of the investigation are a matter for the Met Police and it would be wrong for the mayor – who oversees the Met as police and crime commissioner for London – to intervene in an inquiry investigating his political opponents. Here’s a reminder of what some people who followed the rules lost out on while Boris Johnson was photographed drinking sparkling wine: The Tory MP Sir Roger Gale told Times Radio “there is one answer” when a prime minister misleads parliament from the despatch box. He said: It’s absolutely clear that there was a party, that he attended it, that he was raising a toast to glass one of his colleagues. And therefore, he misled us from the despatch box. And, honourably, there is one answer. He also said: We have to have somebody at the helm that we can really rely on, and whose word we can rely on. That doesn’t appear to me to be Mr Johnson. Paul Brand of ITV News has called Gale’s comments the “first demand for a resignation from Tory MPs over latest Partygate pics”. The Met’s decision-making process during Operation Hillman inquiry into events in No 10 and Whitehall has been questioned by lawyers, with the Good Law Project’s Jolyon Maugham suggesting he would take legal action. He said: We have now had advice from our QC and junior. We will be sending a further judicial review pre-action protocol letter to the Met in relation to the apparent failures in its investigation into the Prime Minister later this week. Adam Wagner, a barrister and the author of a forthcoming book on the coronavirus laws, said that at the time of the November 13 event “it was illegal to ‘participate’ in a gathering if that gathering was not reasonably necessary for work”. He said: Others got FPNs for this gathering so assume police considered it was illegal Why not the PM? He added it is “impossible to understand how attending, raising a glass and making a speech wouldn’t be ‘participating”’. Meanwhile, the police watchdog has been urged to investigate Scotland Yard’s handling of the partygate investigation Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper writing to Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) calling for them to examine the Met’s Operation Hillman inquiry. However, the IOPC is unlikely to agree to her request as most complaints should be directed to the force responsible, with the watchdog usually only considering the most serious cases, such as those involving a death or serious injury following contact with the police, PA News reports. Cooper’s request could also be ineligible because complaints can only be made by someone who has directly witnessed an incident or is directly affected by it. The former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson said it was clear Boris Johnson had lied to parliament and that his position was untenable. She told Channel 4 News: There is now photographic evidence that when the prime minister stood up in parliament and was asked directly was there a party in No 10 on this date and he replied ‘no’, he lied to parliament. I don’t think his job is tenable and his position is tenable. The office of prime minister should be above being traduced by the person who holds it. "The Met didn"t want to upset No. 10," says Lord Paddick over Partygate Lord Brian Paddick, a former Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner, has told Andrew Marr that the Met “didn’t want to upset” Np 10 over Partygate and has compared the situation to the phone hacking scandal. He told Marr on his LBC show: We had the same situation with the phone hacking scandal, where the Met said there was nothing to see here, the Guardian continued to press with that particular issue, and eventually the Met expanded the investigation massively, and prosecutions resulted. And we’ve got a rerun of the same thing, where questions are going to be asked: why was the Met not looking into this? Why did the Met not prosecute the prime minister in these circumstances? It’s very damaging for the Met when the public see these photographs, and the Met seem unable to provide an explanation as to why. Because members of the public will think well, if I was caught in a photograph like that, I would expect to be fined. And the Met need to explain why the prime minister was not. The Met, I think, did not investigate phone hacking because they didn’t want to upset their friends in the media. And I think that they may not have investigated this as thoroughly as they could have done because they didn’t want to upset No 10. Here are some clearer images of the photos obtained by ITV News of the party on 13 November 2020, which the prime minister previously denied had taken place. Here’s some close ups of the table showing the alcohol options, which included wine and gin. Peter Bone has told Times Radio that the photos obtained by ITV News of the PM attending an event in No 10 don’t show a party. The Conservative MP told John Pienaar: I don’t think it looks like that at all. He added that: The police had seen these photographs as well. So I’m happy to accept the police’s verdict on it. But we’ve still got to wait for the Sue Gray report. A source who attended the event that Boris Johnson is pictured at in the ITV Partygate photos has told Chris Mason of the BBC that the prime minister was at the event for 10 minutes before leaving. Of course, the rules at the time of the party didn’t stipulate you could attend a party if it was only for 10 minutes and this doesn’t explain his response when he was specifically asked during PMQs about whether there was a party. On 8 December last year the Labour MP Catherine West asked Johnson in the House of Commons if there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November. She was referring to 13 November 2020. Johnson replied: No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been urged to investigate why Boris Johnson was not fined for the event at which he was pictured apparently raising a toast and drinking sparkling wine. The Lib Dem deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, has written to IOPC director general Michael Lockwood about the issue after photographs obtained by ITV News were published. The prime minister received a fixed-penalty notice (FPN) over a birthday party in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 but was told he would face no further action over other gatherings covered by the Metropolitan police’s Operation Hillman inquiry. Cooper said: The Metropolitan police has so far failed to offer any statement of clarification regarding their decision-making process. They have not set out the evidential thresholds which they used to determine whether FPNs should be issued. The result of this lack of transparency is that the release of photographs such as that of the prime minister drinking in Downing Street, on an occasion for which he was not fined, will likely create considerable public confusion. In particular, it is hard to understand why some individuals, in particular more junior members of staff, who attended the same gatherings as the prime minister received questionnaires and FPNs, while the prime minister did not. She urged the IOPC to investigate Operation Hillman “and establish the process by which the Metropolitan police reached their conclusions on breaches of coronavirus regulations”. Continued scrutiny over lockdown parties held in Downing Street are a reminder that “politicians are servants of the people,” a senior Conservative MP has said. Jeremy Hunt told PM on Radio 4 that “politicians are being held to account” over the allegations in “excruciating detail”. He told the programme he had not seen the latest photos published by ITV News, which reportedly show the prime minister drinking with officials in Downing Street. The former foreign secretary said: I think it is dangerous to comment on a photograph if you haven’t seen the context of the report that it goes out with. Hunt said the investigations were “incredibly uncomfortable for the prime minister”. He added: I have things that happened when I was health secretary and foreign secretary which were talked about, and which were uncomfortable for me as well. So I think this is the week where we are reminding people that politicians are servants of the people. The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has responded to the ITV Partygate photographs. He hasn’t called on Boris Johnson to resign but said the prime minister needs to explain why he believes the behaviour was acceptable. He said: These images will rightly make people across the country very angry. The prime minister must outline why he believes this behaviour was acceptable. To most, these pictures seem unjustifiable and wrong. Full story: Photos show Boris Johnson with glass of wine at No 10 party he was not fined for New photos have emerged of Boris Johnson raising a glass of wine in front of a table strewn with bottles at the leaving do of a senior aide – an event for which the Metropolitan police decided not to issue the prime minister with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN). Others who attended the leaving do were handed FPNs during the Met’s investigation, and the images will raise new questions about why Johnson escaped sanction. The photos obtained by ITV News show Johnson holding a glass of wine as others raise their glasses, as well as appearing to give a speech. The event on 13 November 2020 was to mark the departure of his head of communications, Lee Cain. Johnson has denied in the House of Commons that an event took place on that date. Asked by the MP Catherine West “whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November”, Johnson replied at the time: “Mr Speaker, no. But I’m sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.” In the photos, Johnson appears to be giving a speech to assembled aides, with his ministerial red box on the chair beside him, next to bottles of fizz and empty glasses. A No 10 spokesperson suggested police had access to the photos. “The Cabinet Office and the Met police have had access to all information relevant to their investigations, including photographs,” the spokesperson said. “The Met have concluded their investigation and Sue Gray will publish her report in the coming days, at which point the prime minister will address parliament in full.” Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said it was clear Johnson had lied about the event. “While the British public were making huge sacrifices, Boris Johnson was breaking the law,” she said. “Boris Johnson said repeatedly that he knew nothing about law-breaking – there’s no doubt now, he lied. Boris Johnson made the rules, and then broke them. “The prime minister has demeaned his office. The British people deserve better. While Labour has a plan for tackling the cost of living crisis, Tory MPs are too busy defending the indefensible actions of Boris Johnson.” Earlier on Monday the prime minister’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings said photos would contradict the accounts of Partygate given by Johnson to police and parliament. Steve Baker, a Tory MP, has shared a government and NHS campaign poster urging people to obey the rules, seemingly making a pointed comment about Partygate. The image shows a woman breathing through an oxygen mask and says: “Look into her eyes and tell her you never bend the rules.” He has not added a comment to the image in the tweet. In April, the former minister called for Boris Johnson to quit for failing to obey his own Covid rules during Partygate, telling him “the gig’s up”. Tom Hamilton, a former Labour adviser and co-author of a good book on PMQs (he used to help prepare Ed Milband for the weekly sessions) argues that Boris Johnson could defend his “No” to Catherine West about the 13 November party (see 4.36pm) on the grounds that he was saying no to ‘Could he tell the house?’ bit, not to the ‘Was there a party?’ bit. But he admits this will be a minority view. That is all from me for today. My colleague Nicola Slawson is taking over now.