The 'great gaping hole' in Boris's Partygate defence

● Ex-PM's own press adviser questions his version of events ● MPs say lockdown breaches 'would have obvious' to him ● Officials worried stories of 'PM having p***up' would leak ● Boris says: Don't rely on evidence 'orchestrated' by Sue Gray

Boris Johnson faces growing pressure over the Partygate scandal after a parliamentary inquiry said it would have been “obvious” that events he attended in No 10 breached Covid rules. The former prime minister may also have misled the Commons about lockdown parties in Downing Street on four occasions, the committee said. But Mr Johnson insisted the investigation had uncovered “absolutely no evidence” of any contempt of parliament. Among the revelations, the interim report from the House of Commons privileges committee found his own communications chief Jack Doyle admitted there was a “gaping hole” in Johnson’s account of Partygate. The report was released as the committee called on the exPM to appear as a witness. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the evidence in the report was “pretty damning”.