Top aide questioned Boris Johnson’s plan to say ‘all COVID guidance was followed’ over partygate
Boris Johnson was warned against claiming that all COVID guidance had been followed at Downing Street lockdown gatherings but still issued a denial, according to new evidence published by MPs investigating whether he lied over partygate.
In written evidence from Martin Reynolds, the former principal private secretary to the then prime minister, he said he questioned whether it was “realistic” to make this claim, given the nature of the working environment in Number 10.
He said he asked Mr Johnson about the line proposed for PMQs on 7 December, adding: “He did not welcome the interruption but told me that he had received reassurances that the comms event was within the rules.
“I accepted this but questioned whether it was realistic to argue that all guidance had been followed at all times, given the nature of the working environment in Number 10.”
Politics live: More evidence published ahead of Johnson questioning
Mr Reynolds said Mr Johnson agreed to delete the reference to the guidance.
However, the then prime minister went on to tell the Commons the following day that “the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times”.
Evidence from Martin Reynolds
The evidence has been published ahead of Mr Johnson being questioned by the privileges committee this afternoon on whether he knowingly misled parliament over partygate denials.
The former PM has accepted he did mislead the House but said in a written defence published yesterday that his claims were made in “good faith” – and he was relying on the incorrect advice of his advisers.
However, evidence from senior Number 10 officials appears to dispute this.
In another section of the bundle published this morning, Mr Johnson’s communications chief at the time the partygate story broke denied ever telling him that COVID guidance was followed at all times.
In an interview with the Cabinet Office investigations team, Jack Doyle said it was “difficult to say” if social distancing was followed completely.
He said that “in relation to the events I attended I said I believed no rules were broken”.
Pressed whether he had ever told Mr Johnson “COVID guidance” was always followed in Downing Street, Mr Doyle said: “No.”
Jack Doyle said it was ‘difficult to say’ whether COVID rules were followed
Cabinet Secretary Simon Case also said he did not give the PM these assurances and was not aware of anyone who did.
Johnson ‘had opportunity to shut partygate gatherings down’
The evidence also contained a statement from a Number 10 official who said Mr Johnson “had the opportunity” to shut the partygate gatherings down, but chose to join them instead.
The official, who has not been named in the documents, states the former prime minister was “either invited” to the events by special advisers, or “spotted them whilst walking up to his flat”.
The statement notes that the route Mr Johnson would take included walking down a corridor and looking “straight into the press room and vestibule” – both places where parties were held.
“He had the opportunity to shut them down, but joined in, made speeches, had a drink with staff,” the official’s statement continues.
“He could see what was happening and allowed the culture to continue.”
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Sky’s Ali Fortescue takes a look at Boris Johnson’s partygate defence
‘Comical PM thought May garden party was work event’
Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former top aide, also gave evidence saying it was “comical” Mr Johnson thought the garden party on 20 May 2020 was a work event.
He said Mr Johnson “certainly knew it was a drinks party because I told him”.
This event was the one Mr Reynolds sent an email around to people advising them to “bring your own booze!”
Lee Cain, the communications chief at the time of the event, said it was “clear” that this was “purely a social function” and “in breach of COVID guidance”.
His evidence said he could not remember if he personally had a conversation with the former PM about it, but stated that he told Mr Cummings about his concerns who “agreed it should not take place and said he would raise the issue with Martin and the prime minister”.
Watch coverage of Boris Johnson giving evidence to Privileges Committee on partygate live on Sky News from 2pm.
Mr Reynolds expressed regret at the invite in his evidence, stressing “the language used was totally inappropriate and gave a misleading impression of the nature of the event”.
“It was an event held because staff needed a morale boost after an extremely difficult period when all sorts of tensions had begun to surface and I hoped that being thanked by the PM and talking to each other might strengthen their sense of being part of one team,” he said.
“The event was not a party in any normal sense of the word.”
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Labour MP Steve Reed described Boris Johnson as a man with ‘no regard for the truth’
Ahead of the publication of the documents, a source close to the former prime minister said his team believe they are generally helpful to them.
But they have criticised the fact that not all of the evidence Mr Johnson wanted published has gone into the bundle.
All seven committee members, led by Labour veteran Harriet Harman but with a Tory majority, will use Mr Johnson’s appearance to determine if he deliberately misled the Commons when he told MPs no COVID rules or guidance had been broken.
On the eve of his appearance, the former prime minister repeated his denial that he had not done anything wrong and said he was looking forward to the hearing.
World
Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet – and that he and Barack Obama ‘probably’ like each other
Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.
Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.
“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.
“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP
Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’
Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.
The pair sat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.
Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.
Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.
“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.
“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”
The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.
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Insults continued for years, with Mr Obama famously dedicating much of his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech in 2016 to jokes at his political rival’s expense.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.
On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”
World
‘The future is in our hands’ scientists say, as 2024 becomes first year to pass 1.5C global warming threshold
Last year was the warmest on record, the first to breach a symbolic threshold, and brought with it deadly impacts like flooding and drought, scientists have said.
Two new datasets found 2024 was the first calendar year when average global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – before humans started burning fossil fuels at scale.
The record heat has not only has real-world implications, as it contributed to deadly flooding in Spain and vicious drought in places like Zambia in southern Africa.
It is also highly symbolic.
Countries agreed in the landmark Paris Agreement to limit warming ideally to 1.5C, because after that the impacts would be much more dangerous.
The news arrives as California battles “hell on earth” wildfires, suspected to have been exacerbated by climate change.
And it comes as experts warn support for the Paris goals is “more fragile than ever” – with Donald Trump and the Argentinian president poised to row back on climate action.
What caused 2024 record heat – and is it here to stay?
Friends of the Earth called today’s findings from both the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change service and the Met Office “deeply disturbing”.
The “primary driver” of heat in the last two years was climate change from human activity, but the temporary El Nino weather phenomenon also contributed, they said.
The breach in 2024 does not mean the world has forever passed 1.5C of warming – as that would only be declared after several years of doing so, and warming may slightly ease this year as El Nino has faded.
But the world is “teetering on the edge” of doing so, Copernicus said.
Prof Piers Forster, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, called it a “foretaste of life at 1.5C”.
Dr Gabriel Pollen, Zambia’s national coordinator for disasters, said “no area of life and the economy is untouched” by the country’s worst drought in more than 100 years.
Six million people face starvation, critical hydropower has plummeted, blackouts are frequent, industry is “decimated”, and growth has halved, he said.
Paris goal ‘not obsolete’
Scientists were at pains to point out it is not too late to curb worse climate change, urging leaders to maintain and step up climate action.
Professor Forster said temporarily breaching 1.5C “does not mean the goal is obsolete”, but that we should “double down” on slashing greenhouse gas emissions and on adapting to a hotter world.
The Met Office said “every fraction of a degree” still makes a difference to the severity of extreme weather.
The California fires were whipped up by strong, dry winds and likely worsened by climate change. Pic: Reuters
Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo added: “The future is in our hands: swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate”.
Climate action is ‘economic opportunity’
Copernicus found that global temperatures in 2024 averaged 15.10°C, the hottest in records going back to 1850, making it 1.60°C above the pre-industrial level during 1850-1900.
The Met Office’s data found 2024 was 1.53C above pre-industrial levels.
The figures are global averages, which smooth out extremes from around the world into one number. That is why it still might have felt cold in some parts of the world last year.
Greenpeace campaigner Philip Evans said as “the world’s most powerful climate denier” Donald Trump returns to the White House, others must “take up the mantle of global climate leadership”.
The UK’s climate minister Kerry McCarthy said the UK has been working with other countries to cut global emissions, as well as greening the economy at home.
“Not only is this crucial for our planet, it is the economic opportunity of the 21st century… tackling the climate crisis while creating new jobs, delivering energy security and attracting new investment into the UK.”
World
Picture shows baby girl moments after birth on packed migrant dinghy heading for Canary Islands
Photographs have captured the moments after a baby girl was born on a packed migrant dinghy heading for the Canary Islands.
The small boat was carrying 60 people and had embarked from Tan-Tan – a Moroccan province 135 nautical miles (250km) away.
One image shows the baby lying on her mother’s lap as other passengers help the pair.
The boat’s passengers – a total of 60 people, including 14 women and four children – were rescued by a Spanish coastguard ship.
Coastguard captain Domingo Trujillo said: “The baby was crying, which indicated to us that it was alive and there were no problems, and we asked the woman’s permission to undress her and clean her.
“The umbilical cord had already been cut by one of her fellow passengers. The only thing we did was to check the child, give her to her mother and wrap them up for the trip.”
Coastguards rescued all 60 people aboard the boat. Pic: Salvmento Maritimo/Reuters
The mother and baby were taken for medical checks and treated with antibiotics, medical authorities said.
Dr Maria Sabalich, an emergency coordinator of the Molina Orosa University Hospital in Lanzarote, said: “They are still in the hospital, but they are doing well.”
When they are discharged from hospital, the pair will be moved to a humanitarian centre for migrants, a government official said.
They will then most likely be relocated to a reception centre for mothers and children on another of the Canary Islands, they added.
Thousands of migrants board boats attempting to make the perilous journey from the African coast to the Spanish Canaries each year.
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In 2024, a total of 9,757 people died on the route, according to Spanish migration charity Walking Borders.
Mr Trujillo said: “Almost every night we leave at dawn and arrive back late.
“This case is very positive, because it was with a newborn, but in all the services we do, even if we are tired, we know we are helping people in distress.”
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