Downing Street police give ‘extremely damning’ Covid party evidence to Sue Gray

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Downing Street police who were on duty when the alleged lockdown-breaking gatherings took place have given ‘extremely damning’ evidence to Sue Gray, according to a source.

Police officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, who were guarding Downing Street when the illegal gatherings allegedly took place, have provided their accounts to Ms Gray. 

The testimonies, which come just days before Ms Gray releases the findings of her report, have now been described as ‘extremely damning’, according to a source. 

The source went on to claim that while officers could not be compelled to speak to Ms Gray they were ‘only too willing’ to provide cooperate with the probe. 

The official inquiry into the ‘partygate row’ by Whitehall ethics chief Sue Gray is expected to be published next week – and there is growing nervousness in Downing Street over what it will reveal.   

It comes as the PM’s former aide Dominic Cummings prepares to be interviewed by Ms Gray on Monday, according to reports.

Yesterday claims emerged that Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie could be dragged deeper into the partygate row amid claims that a probe into illicit gatherings will examine events taking place in the Downing Street flat she shares with the Prime Minister.

Mrs Johnson has already been placed at several ‘work events’ in the No10 gardens in 2020 where drinks were served, in apparent contravention of Covid rules in place at the time.

But in a further blow to the Prime Minister, The Sunday Times reported senior Cabinet Office official Sue Gray had widened her inquiry to include allegations that parties were also held in his own official home. 

Last night one source described how they would be ‘very surprised’ if Boris Johnson was still in power by the end of the week.

They told The Telegraph: ‘Met officers have spoken to Sue Gray now, as you would expect, and have been able to provide a lot of information.’

The source added: ‘Put it this way, if Boris Johnson is still Prime Minister by the end of the week, I’d be very surprised.’        

Whitehall heavy hitter Sue Gray is carrying out inquiries into three alleged gatherings at No10 and the Department for Education in November and December last year, when indoor mixing was banned. 

As part of her investigation, the civil servant has spoken to fellow MPs, the Prime Minister, and political advisers.

She has also examined the Prime Minister’s official diary as part of the probe.

Yesterday The Sunday Times reported Ms Gray had widened her inquiry to include allegations that parties were held in Boris Johnson’s own official home.

The paper said that two senior Tory aides, Henry Newman and Josh Grimstone – both said to be friends of Mrs Johnson’s – visited the flat over No 11 on numerous occasions during lockdown.

Initially Ms Gray was said to have accepted the visits were for work purposes, however investigators were reported to have questioned why they were spending so much time in Downing Street when they were working for the Cabinet Office.

Mr Newman is a former protégé of Michael Gove who worked on Dominic Cummings’ Vote Leave campaign in the run-up to the referendum and is now a senior adviser at No 10. Josh Grimstone is a special adviser to Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove.

Ms Gray has also been given access to data of Downing Staff staff movements in and out of the building, including from their swipecards, the Guardian reported.

The senior cabinet office official is also expected to speak to Mr Cummings about his bombshell claims.

A source told The Mirror that Ms Gray ‘wants the inquiry to be as robust as possible’, adding: ‘Cummings is going to be interviewed by the time the inquiry concludes.’

Mr Cummings has alleged that the PM held a gathering at his grace-and-favour flat on November 13 last year – the day the adviser was ousted from Downing Street. He also suggested there had been ‘other flat parties’. 

Earlier this month the former chief aide also twisted the knife, insisting the PM was ‘destroying his own support’ after he complained that ‘nobody told me’ a ‘BYOB’ bash in the Downing Street garden in May 2020 was not a work event.

As he desperately tries to defuse the crisis, a weary and miserable Mr Johnson flatly denied Mr Cummings’ claim that he lied to Parliament over whether he was warned about the potential lockdown breach in advance.

But he repeatedly ducked saying whether he would resign if a civil service probe finds he did not tell the truth.

At one point as he was confronted with the fact he needed to apologise to the Queen for a No10 leaving do on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral in April last year, the premier bowed his head and breathed heavily for several seconds, before seemingly composing himself and voicing ‘deep regret’ for what happened.

Asked if he had lied as he broke cover for the first time in days, Mr Johnson said: ‘No. 

‘I want to begin by repeating my apologies to everybody for the misjudgments that I’ve made, that we may have made in No10 and beyond, whether in Downing Street or throughout the pandemic.

‘Nobody told me that what we were doing was against the rules, that the event in question was something that … was not a work event, and as I said in the House of Commons when I went out into that garden I thought that I was attending a work event.’

The comments came as Rishi Sunak fuelled speculation about his unhappiness by stalking out of an interview while being grilled about the Partygate furore and whether he ‘unequivocally’ backed the PM.  

Pushed on whether he believed the premier’s denials that he knew a ‘BYOB’ gathering in Downing Street in May 2020 was a social event, Mr Sunak said: ‘Of course I do.’

But he merely ‘referred’ people to Mr Johnson’s own words when pressed on the details, and challenged on whether Mr Johnson would have to quit if he knowingly misled parliament he said: ‘The ministerial code is clear on these matters.’

Mr Johnson looked in agony as he fielded questions for the first time this week, having isolated due to a close family member testing positive for Covid.

‘I am deeply sorry for misjudgments that were made. I carry full responsibility for what took place,’ Mr Johnson said during the visit to a north London hospital.

‘Nobody said to me this is an event that is against the rules, that is in breach of what we’re asking everybody else to do, it should not go ahead.

‘What I remember is going out into that garden for a short time and for 25 minutes thanking staff who’d worked on Covid, who were continuing to work on Covid, and then going back to office

‘If I had my time again, I would not have allowed things to develop in that way.’

Challenged again on whether he had been verbally warned about the gathering in the Downing Street garden, Mr Johnson said: ‘I can tell you categorically, categorically, that nobody told me and nobody said that this was something that was against the rules or was a breach of the Covid rules or we were doing something that wasn’t a work event because, frankly, I don’t think, I can’t imagine why on earth it would have gone ahead or why it would have been allowed to go ahead.

‘My memory of this event, as I’ve said, is going out into the garden for about 25 minutes for what I implicitly thought was a work event and talking to staff, thanking staff, I can’t remember exactly how many – but for about 25 minutes I was there. I then went back to my office and continued my work.’

He added: ‘I do humbly apologise to people for misjudgments that were made. But that is the very, very best of my recollection about this event.’

On whether he will resign if Ms Gray sets out a different picture, Mr Johnson said: ‘We’ll have to see what she says. I think that she should be given the space to get on and conclude her inquiry.

‘I would urge everybody who has knowledge of this, memories of this, to tell her what they know.

‘Let’s see what the report says.’

This week a senior government source confirmed the ‘scope of the inquiry has broadened’ but suggested that Ms Gray was prepared to accept the explanation offered by Mr Newman and Mr Grimstone.      

Ms Gray is said to be keen to interview all of the people identified as key witnesses in the row to ensure her final report – expected to be published next week – is viewed as credible.

But the mood music in Whitehall is said to be ‘darkening’ as she gathers more evidence. 

Grim YouGov polling has found that 64 per cent of the public now believe Mr Johnson should resign, up from an already-dire 48 per cent in November.

Bur this week Liz Truss insisted that Boris Johnson should continue as Prime Minister for ‘as long as possible’ as Downing Street braced itself for the publication of the Partygate report.

The Foreign Secretary is a leading contender to replace the PM but scotched talk of any leadership contest – despite fears he could be challenged as early as next week.

Mr Johnson is expected to speak to several wobbling Tory MPs this weekend from his country retreat, Chequers, in an attempt to head off any threat. 

Insiders believe similar meetings earlier this week helped defuse the threat of the ‘Pork Pie Plot’ coup by Red Wall MPs.

The official inquiry into the Partygate row by Whitehall ethics chief Sue Gray is expected to be published next week.

She is said to have found an email warning Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, against holding a drinks party in the No 10 garden during the first Covid lockdown.

The email, sent by a senior official, told Mr Reynolds the gathering ‘should be cancelled because it broke the rules’, according to ITV News.

Mr Johnson has admitted attending the gathering in question for 25 minutes on May 20 2020, but insisted he believed it was a work event and that he was not warned it would be against the rules.

Several MPs are said to be waiting until the report is published to decide whether to submit letters of no confidence to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.