100 invited to Downing Street garden lockdown drinks

As many as 100 people were invited to a "bring-your-own-booze" drinks event in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown, it is understood.

Witnesses have told the BBC the PM and his wife were among about 30 people who attended the gathering on 20 May 2020.

But Boris Johnson has declined to say whether he was among those there.

The Metropolitan Police said it was in contact with the government over "widespread reporting relating to alleged breaches" of Covid rules.

Labour has been granted an urgent question in the Commons at 12:30 GMT to push for answers from a minister.

The party's leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said the prime minister needed to "come clean" about the gathering.

Addressing Mr Johnson on Twitter, he added: "Your deflections and distractions are absurd. Not only did you know about the parties in Downing Street, you attended them.

"Stop lying to the British public."

An email, revealed by ITV News, invited people to "socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden this evening".

It was sent when lockdown restrictions were still in place. Twelve days later - on 1 June - rules in England were relaxed to allow groups of up to six people to meet outside.

Health Minister Edward Argar told BBC Breakfast he understood the "anger, sadness and upset many will feel about these allegations".

But he said it was "important" to allow an investigation to take place into gatherings in Downing Street before coming to any conclusions.

However, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson told the BBC the PM did not need to wait for an inquiry to answer whether he attended.

"I can't understand if the prime minister attended why on earth he thought that was the right thing to do," she added.

"People are furious about this, what they gave up, how difficult it was, what happened to their own lives, and to think that this was going on? It is indefensible, it cannot be defended."

Downing Street declined to comment as it said the gathering - like others reported to have happened under coronavirus restrictions during 2020 - is now being looked into as part of an ongoing independent investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray.

A Met spokesperson said the force was "aware of widespread reporting relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at Downing Street on 20 May 2020 and is in contact with the Cabinet Office", which oversees government policy.

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the prime minister "cannot run and cannot hide" from the allegations.

He added: "It speaks to a rotten culture at the heart of this government and the rotten culture begins with the person in charge."

The Wednesday 20 May gathering first came to light last week in a blog by the PM's former adviser Dominic Cummings.

ITV News has now published what appears to be the full email invitation sent on behalf of Mr Johnson's principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds.

It has the subject line "Socially Distanced Drinks! [OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE-No 10 ONLY]".

"After what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden this evening," the email says.

"Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze."

Two eyewitnesses have told the BBC they saw Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie at the event in the garden.

And sources have said that several Downing Street members of staff voiced concerns about drinks happening, with one claiming: "There were conversations about the email being really unwise."

Another added: "I remember people saying, 'What the hell?'"

Others said a long table had been set up in the garden for the event.

A message sent by one Downing Street staffer to another at the time, shown to the BBC, said: "Um. Why is Martin (Reynolds) encouraging a mass gathering in the garden?" Another asked: "Is this for real?"

In a Twitter post on the day of the gathering, when it was 25C (77F) in London, the Metropolitan Police reminded people they could only relax or exercise outside on their own, with their own household or one person from another household.

On the same day as the gathering, the then Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, gave the Downing Street coronavirus briefing - in which he confirmed another 363 people in the UK had died with Covid in the previous 24 hours.

At the briefing, he told the public: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place provided that you stay two metres apart."

"Is this for real?"

That might be your reaction to what we know now - that one of Boris Johnson's most senior aides emailed around 100 staff in Downing Street for outdoor drinks in May 2020, during the intense early emergency of lockdown.

Martin Reynolds, the principal private secretary (for how much longer?) invited dozens and dozens of staffers to drinks in the garden, socially distanced, but to many people's minds, in contradiction to the very strict and very clear public guidance to the public at the time that banned socialising in any form.

A jog with a friend in the park or a solitary trudge along the same canal path was just about it.

"Is this for real?" was in fact the reaction of one of the staff who was gobsmacked to receive the email, written down in black and white, in a message to another official shared at the time.

Another, shown to the BBC, said: "Um. Why is Martin encouraging a mass gathering in the garden?"

Those exchanges make it pretty clear that there were concerns at the time. Yet the event went ahead, with, I'm told, around 30 people in attendance.

Read more from Laura here.

Hannah Brady, spokeswoman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said her father had died 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 asked.

"To make matters worse, in September last year I sat in that same garden, looked the prime minister in the eyes and told him how my dad had died," Ms Brady added.

"He told me he had done everything he could to protect my dad, knowing that he had partied in that same spot the very day that dad's death certificate was signed. It makes me feel sick to think about it."

Separately last month, the Guardian published a photograph taken on 15 May 2020 - five days before the drinks took place - showing the prime minister, his wife and 17 staff members in the Downing Street garden.

Mr Johnson has said this was not a party and those present were "people at work, talking about work".

In December, the prime minister asked Simon Case, the UK's top civil servant, to investigate a series of allegations about events taking place in government buildings in 2020 despite coronavirus restrictions being in force.

Mr Case stepped down after suggestions one of the parties had happened in his own office and the investigation was passed to Sue Gray, another senior civil servant.

Asked during a visit to a vaccination centre in west London if he had attended the 20 May drinks, the prime minister said: "All that, as you know, is the subject of a proper investigation by Sue Gray."

His minister, Mr Argar, echoed that on Tuesday, saying Ms Gray would be allowed to look into the allegations "without fear or favour", and would "want to act quickly".

He added: "It is right whatever flows from that… [if] people are shown to have broken the rules, appropriate disciplinary action is taken."

The prime minister's official spokesman added: "There is an independent process going on to look into this, led by Sue Gray, and I can't comment further while that is taking place."

Tory MP Michael Fabricant told the BBC he understood the anger over the gathering, but claimed the PM was showing "loyalty" to his staff.

"Boris and others felt sorry for people who were working long, long hours and they were simply spilling out from their own offices into a secure garden, which is an integral part of No 10 Downing Street," he said.

"And you know what? I'd rather have a prime minister who felt for his staff and all those hardworking people than some cold fish who really couldn't care [at all] about them."

But Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "Boris Johnson has consistently shown that he has no regard for the rules he puts in place for the rest of us.

"He is trying to get officials to take the fall for his own mistakes, but he sets the tone for the way Downing Street and the rest of government operates."

The SNP called on the Tories to "show [the PM] the door" or risk "the whole party will be tainted by the lies, arrogance and rule-breaking", while the Liberal Democrats demanded a police investigation.