Johnson under pressure over ‘Partygate’ photos
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday faced renewed accusations of lying, after photos emerged of him drinking at a Downing Street party during lockdown in 2020.
The revelations came as a senior civil servant was expected to publish her longawaited full report into the “Partygate” scandal, despite claims that Johnson was trying to have it dropped.
A slew of revelations earlier this year about lockdownbreaking parties caused widespread political and public anger, and put Johnson’s position in jeopardy.
But the heat was taken out of a potential mutiny from his own MPs by the war in Ukraine, and his hawkish support for President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The photos published late on Monday by ITV News were taken during a leaving party for Johnson’s communications chief Lee Cain on November 13, 2020, days after the government ordered a second lockdown, and banned household mixing.
Johnson can be seen raising a glass and chatting with several people around a table with bottles of wine and food.
Police have investigated the event as part of their probe into “Partygate” and fined one person, but not Johnson.
When he was asked in parliament last December about the gathering, he insisted there was no party on that date and that no rules were broken.
Johnson has been fined over a surprise birthday party he attended at Downing Street in June 2020, but was not fined for any other event.
The deputy leader of the main opposition Labour party, Angela Rayner, said it was “astonishing” that Johnson was not fined for the November gathering.
She told ITV News that it looked “pretty clear” there was a party that was not a work event, calling it “pretty shocking” he had not been fined for it.
“He knew that he broke the rules, and he’s known it all along and yet he’s tried to get away with it,” she added.
“He’s tried to lie to the British public, and he’s tried to lie to parliament,” Rayner said.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps sought to defend Johnson on Tuesday, saying the new pictures showed he was “clearly not” partying.
“It looks to me he was asked to go and thank a member of staff who was leaving, raises a glass to them and I imagine comes in and out pretty quick, which is presumably why the police have not issued a fixedpenalty notice to the Prime Minister,” Shapps told BBC radio.
IN THE PHOTOS, JOHNSON CAN BE SEEN RAISING A GLASS AND CHATTING WITH SEVERAL PEOPLE AROUND A TABLE WITH BOTTLES OF WINE AND FOOD
Argentine prez pays ‘fine’ for birthday dinner
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez and the first lady on Monday paid a fine of three million pesos (about $25,232), in the form of a charitable donation, in return for legal proceedings against them being dropped over a birthday dinner during the pandemic lockdown that caused a scandal.
A federal judge approved the president’s “economic compensation” proposal, in which he will pay 1.6 million pesos ($13,457) to a prestigious vaccine research institute, the Malbran Institute.
His partner, Fabiola Yanez, offered a donation of 1.4 million ($11,775), which was also approved.
Prosecutors opened an investigation last year over suspected breaches of health protocols by the centre-left leader, after leaked photos showed a birthday dinner for the first lady being hosted in July 2020 at the Quinta de Olivos, an official residence of the president in the Buenos Aires suburbs.