Boris Johnson must admit that he was present at his apartment on Downing Street during the “Abba party” to break the blockade, but only to conduct a job interview with a close friend of his wife.
The prime minister declined to say whether he was at the rally on November 13, 2020, to mark Dominic Cummings’ departure, but now admits in private that he was there.
The sound of The Winner Takes It All is said to have spread throughout the building, making it one of the most controversial of up to six events Mr Johnson attended in clear violation of Covid law.
Last week, Mr Johnson told Tory MPs that it was a “working event” – lifting the lid on evidence he may have given to police and the stalled investigation into Sue Gray’s cabinet.
He is now expected to claim to have invited Henry Newman, then an adviser to Michael Gove, to join him in Apartment 11, where he lives with his wife and children.
A government source told The Times that Mr Johnson said he had not broken the law because he had conducted an interview with a counselor in another part of the apartment.
The prime minister invited Mr Newman to the apartment to distance himself from leaving drinks held elsewhere in the building for Lee Kane, who had just been fired as its communications director.
Apart from Downing Street, he did not deny that the prime minister had effectively turned Mr Kane’s event into a leaving party. “He said he wanted to say a few words about Lee and started pouring drinks for people and drinking himself,” a source told the Sunday Times.
Carrie Johnson had previously described her close friend Mr Newman as a political “friend” and was said to be a regular visitor to Downing Street.
The prime minister is expected to escape a fine for the “bring your own alcohol” party he attends in Garden 10, a legal expert predicts – although others have been punished.
But his problems deepened after he failed to block a Commons investigation into whether he lied to lawmakers when he wrongly told them that Covid’s rules had not been violated.
Senior conservatives predict that the challenge for Johnson’s leadership after the local elections is now inevitable, as lawmakers do not believe the dispute is over.
And a high-ranking Tory, Steve Baker, warned that the Conservatives would “reap the whirlwind” of public anger over the parties in the ballot box on May 5.
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