House of CommonsEvidence strongly suggests breaches of Covid rules at Downing Street would have been “obvious” to Boris Johnson during partygate, the inquiry into whether he lied to MPs has said.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said the Commons may have been misled by Johnson multiple times as they set up a live showdown with the former prime minister for later this month.
Johnson denied lockdown rules were broken and released a statement claiming the inquiry’s interim report showed he was being “vindicated” as he raised concern about investigator Sue Gray’s move to Sir Keir Starmer’s office.
But on Friday, the committee published its initial report with some previously unseen photos of Downing Street parties.
The committee’s report said: “The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings.
“There is evidence that those who were advising Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules.”
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