Cummings: PM knew about party... and I’d swear to it under oath
DOMINIC Cummings last night claimed his old boss Boris Johnson had lied about what he knew about a Downing Street party.
The former top adviser said he had urged the PM to cancel the controversial ‘bring your own booze’ do in the No 10 garden on May 20, 2020.
His comments contradict Mr Johnson’s apology to Parliament last week that he thought it was just a ‘work event’.
Downing Street yesterday denied reports that the PM had been urged to halt the party, which took place at the height of the first lockdown.
The PM’s official spokesman told reporters that the claims were ‘untrue’. But Mr Cummings last night said that he and other witnesses were willing to ‘swear under oath that this is what happened’ – and that the PM had misled Parliament.
The former Vote Leave chief, who is open about his wish to depose Mr Johnson, also hinted that he has more damaging material to release after Whitehall ethics chief Sue Gray completes her report into the alleged drinking culture at Downing Street.
He said: ‘There are many other photos of parties after I left yet to appear. I’ll say more when Sue Gray’s report is published.’ The moves came as:
■ Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was accused of breaking Covid guidance after sharing a beer with activists at a time when indoor mixing was banned;
■ Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi acknowledged the Government had made ‘mistakes’ but said he expected Mr Johnson to be leader at the next election;
■ Tory strategists were cheered by an Opinium poll of members for Channel 4 News, which found that 63 per cent of activists want Mr Johnson to stay on;
■ Whitehall sources warned Miss Gray’s report into the controversy could be delayed by the fresh allegations.
Writing on his website, Mr Cummings said he had told the PM that his senior aide Martin Reynolds had ‘invited the building to a drinks party’. He said he urged Mr Johnson to ‘grip this madhouse’, but that the PM ‘waved it aside’.
Mr Cummings also said that he and another senior official had raised the issue directly with Mr Reynolds, who sent out an email to 100 staff encouraging them to join the party and ‘make the most of the lovely weather’.
The prospect of more damaging leaks about alleged parties threatens to undermine hopes that Miss Gray’s report will ‘draw a line’ under the row, which has led to a string of calls for the PM to quit.
Ministers had hoped that the report would be released this week, with Thursday pencilled in as possible publication day. But sources last night acknowledged the report could slip into next week.
An ally of the PM dismissed the latest claims from Mr Cummings. ‘Remember, this is the man who claimed he went for a drive during lockdown to test his eyesight. Why would anyone believe him?’ he said.
Mr Johnson is preparing to clear out a number of Downing Street officials said to have been involved in Partygate.
He has also sanctioned the release of populist policies on issues like Channel migrants and the BBC, in a move codenamed ‘Operation Red Meat’. But MPs returning to Westminster from their constituencies yesterday continued to warn of a public backlash.
Former minister Steve Baker said his Wycombe constituents were ‘about 60 to one against’ the PM. ‘I would still prefer Boris Johnson were a roaring success, but right now people are absolutely furious,’ he added. The prominent lockdown sceptic warned that the public ‘may well be too angry to forgive’.
West Dorset MP Chris Loder received more than 100 angry emails about lockdown parties in a single evening.
He told Radio 4’s Westminster Hour show that the PM’s leadership was ‘in question’, adding: ‘When you start to see that there’s just revelation, after revelation, after revelation, what actually can you say?’
Science minister George Freeman said he had been ‘shocked and flabbergasted’ by the numerous reports of partying and heavy drinking in No 10.
In a letter to a constituent, he said the revelations had caused ‘serious damage’ to public trust. He warned that those in power ‘shouldn’t seek to escape public responsibility or accountability’.
Former Government aide Sonia Khan yesterday said there was a culture of heavy drinking in No 10. She told Radio 4’s World at One that she had seen people ‘waking up in the same clothes the next day’ after heavy drinking sessions.
‘Drinks could start at lunchtime, they could start a little bit later in the day – different teams do things very differently – but the idea of mini-fridges or having drinks underneath your table wasn’t uncommon,’ she said.
In response to Mr Cummings’s comments, a No 10 spokesman said: ‘It is untrue that the Prime Minister was warned about the event in advance. As he said earlier this week he believed implicitly that this was a work event.’