Starmer accuses PM of breaking law over No 10 parties

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of breaking Covid laws with parties held in Downing Street during lockdown.

The Labour leader said the prime minister had "lied" about "industrial scale partying" in No 10.

Six Tory MPs have now called on the PM to resign over gatherings held during restrictions.

But Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden said the PM would take action over the "underlying culture" in Downing Street.

Mr Dowden told the BBC the PM was "committed" to doing this when he responds to an official inquiry on events in government buildings.

The internal investigation, led by senior civil servant Sue Gray, is expected to be published as soon as the coming week.

The Metropolitan Police said it had "ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office" over Ms Gray's inquiry.

However, Sir Keir told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme he did not need to wait for the report to conclude that Mr Johnson broke the rules.

"The facts speak for themselves, and the country has made up its mind," he said, adding it was "blindingly obvious what's happened".

"I think he broke the law, I think he's as good as admitted that he broke the law," he added.

Speaking on the same programme, Mr Dowden said he shared the public's anger, but it was right to wait for Ms Gray to "establish the full facts".

"The task for us now is how we address the underlying culture in Downing Street," he said.

"We need to up our game, and that needs to be addressed, and I know the prime minister is committed to addressing that."

Sue Gray's report is a fact-finding mission but within government it is expected she will say whether various gatherings were appropriate or not.

She will not say whether gatherings or parties broke the law - or what any punishments should be.

There is no date scheduled for its publication yet. The hope is it can be published as soon as possible - possibly by the end of the week.

However, I understand because some allegations have just come to light, it is possible it could be published the week after.

Mr Dowden also appeared on Sky's Trevor Phillips On Sunday where the presenter held back tears recalling his daughter's death during the pandemic.

Phillips said his daughter, who he said was very ill and had isolated for months, collapsed and later died on a weekend in April 2021 when it has emerged parties took place in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Phillip's funeral.

"She had stuck to the spirit and letter of the rules, and there are going to be thousands of people who have that story in their background," he said. "And, if I may say so, you are in here telling me about a civil servant's inquiry, that will not answer that anger.

"Does the prime minister really understand why people are angry?"

Meanwhile, former minister Tim Loughton has become the sixth Tory MP to call on Mr Johnson to resign, calling his position "untenable".

In a Facebook post, he added the public deserved "clarity, honesty and contrition" instead of "obfuscation, prevarication and evasion".

Pressure on Mr Johnson has been growing since he admitted he attended a gathering in the Downing Street garden on 20 May 2020, during the first Covid lockdown.

As many as 100 people were invited to "socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden" in an email on behalf of the prime minister's principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds.

On Wednesday, Mr Johnson told MPs he had "believed implicitly" it was a work event, but admitted: "With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside".

But Labour has accused Mr Johnson of "holding the British public in contempt", after the Sunday Times reported he had been warned to cancel the event after the email went out.

In response to the report, a No 10 spokesperson said: "It is untrue that the prime minister was warned about the event in advance."

On Friday, Downing Street apologised to the Queen after it emerged two staff parties were held at No 10 on the night before Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021.

Mr Johnson was not at either event but his spokesman said it was "deeply regrettable that this took place at a time of national mourning".

The parties have been added to a growing list of events in government buildings currently being investigated by Ms Gray.

Speaking on Times Radio on Sunday, former Labour PM Tony Blair said he understood why people would feel "enraged" at the party revelations.

"I can also, from the perspective of Downing Street, understand how these things happen," he said. But he added: "You can explain it, but not really excuse it."

During his BBC interview, Sir Keir also said a picture of him drinking beer in an office last spring did not show a breach of Covid rules in place at the time.

The Labour leader said the picture, which first emerged last year, showed him in a constituency office in the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election.

"We were very busy. We were working in the office," he told presenter Sophie Raworth when challenged about the image.

"We stopped for something to eat and then we carried on working. No party, no breach of the rules and absolutely no comparison with the prime minister."