'Partygate' scandal kept alive

Conservative MPs 'fear Johnson could cost them jobs' after fresh accusations

Any hopes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson may have had that the publication of the Sue Gray report into the partygate scandal would draw a line under the issue of lockdown law-breaking at his Downing Street office look to have been in vain, after fresh allegations emerged.

The government has tried to move the political agenda on, with the announcement of a windfall tax on energy suppliers coming just 24 hours after the report's publication, but the Sunday Times published allegations suggesting there had been another Downing Street gathering, and that Simon Case, head of the civil service, had been told about it.

Messages sent by the prime minister's wife on June 19, 2020, Johnson's 56th birthday, suggest that a second gathering was taking place in Downing Street, in addition to a staff party that Johnson attended and for which he has already been fined by London's Metropolitan Police.

According to the paper, the texts show that a Downing Street aide told Carrie Johnson that her husband was on his way to the gathering.

It is further alleged that the Gray inquiry team was told in January that such texts existed, but despite being offered the evidence on two separate occasions, no action was taken.

In response, the Cabinet Office, the government department that runs the prime minister's affairs, disputed the suggestion that it had been offered a chance to see the texts in January, and that the aide had declined to submit copies, and that the second time the offer was made, the inquiry was finished.

The Sunday Mirror newspaper has also published details of WhatsApp messages sent on November 15 2020, just 10 days into the second national lockdown, planning a supposedly virtual quiz event which ended up being attended in person by many staff, and which specifically referred to "making it a bit of a party".

Shortly after the report was published, Johnson announced plans to rewrite the ministerial code so that instead of being expected to resign for breaching rules of professional conduct, an apology or temporary suspension of pay would be punishment enough.

Opposition Labour Party member of Parliament Chris Bryant, chair of Parliament's standards committee, called the proposal "a disgrace".

"It means that the tiny semblance of accountability disappears…'if you break the rules, just rewrite the rulebook' is the motto of this despicable government," he said.

There have also been allegations that pressure was put on Sue Gray about what could be published in her report, a claim that was rejected by Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who told Sky News he "would not question her independence".

"Knowing Sue Gray, I don't believe anybody would be able to pressure her into putting any kind of report out that she wasn't confident with," he said. "I'm confident (she) had the freedom to write the report she did write and publish."

Meanwhile, former Brexit minister David Davis has said that the partygate fallout continues to cause ill-feeling among Conservative MPs and that Johnson's time as leader could soon be up.

"Nobody in the world could have made it plainer, I don't think, that I want the prime minister to go-I haven't changed my mind about that," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today program.

When asked about internal opposition, Davis said there were two reasons MPs were losing faith.

"Number one, frankly they see their own seats disappearing in many cases, they see themselves losing the next election on the back of this," he said. "Also, it has a bad effect on the country... it is a distraction on everything you do and it doesn't help the reputation of the country."