the meetings came after the prime minister again denied that he was warned a drinks party in the downing street garden was against lockdown restrictions in place at the time. on a hospital visit yesterday, borisjohnson again apologised for parties in downing street on the eve of the duke of edinburgh s funeral, saying he deeply and bitterly regretted that it happened. if the best argument that you have got to the accusation that you broke the rules was that, well, nobody had told me that the rules that i had imposed on everyone else were being broken, then i think that reveals you are in a difficult position, and i think the prime minister is in a difficult position because of his behaviour, because of the constant set of allegations that are being made. and i think conservative mps are increasingly uncomfortable with this, and it does appear that quite a number are now taking action. others are reserving judgment
our main story. borisjohnson will face mps at prime minister s questions today, with pressure mounting for him to say whether he attended a drinks party in the downing street garden during the first lockdown. witnesses have said that mrjohnson and his wife were among the 30 people present at the event in may 2020, when outdoor gatherings were banned. conservative mps have joined labour in saying he must explain his actions. 0ur political correspondent helen catt reports. borisjohnson has so far refused to say if he went to a party in the downing street garden during the first lockdown in england or not. number10 has said it won t comment while a senior official investigates. but in a few hours time, mrjohnson will be at the dispatch box for prime minister s questions, and able to avoid it no longer. labour has said he must come clean. did he attend the drinks event yes or no? some conservative mps have made it very clear they want a categoric answer, too. if the prime minister knowi
have heard some talk that her focuses on senior civil servants, juniors servants may have attended these events whom she is not speaking to. i am sure if anybody was going to confirm they have been spoken to by sue gray it would be the former prime ministerial adviser dominic cummings who is committed to that kind of radical transparency, he will probably write a blog about it. they key thing about the blog he has written now is that he discussed the problems of the party on the 20th of may with the prime minister and his assertion that the private secretary who wrote the invitation probably disgusted with the prime minister too, probably disgusted with the prime ministertoo, in dominic probably disgusted with the prime minister too, in dominic cummings view that would be the prime minister misled parliament when he was talking about this. downing street said the prime minister was not warned know aware of the event, but it s very much what the deputy prime minister said when he was i
person outdoors. sonia, the governing s defence the first time when these pictures emerged of a garden party on the 15th of may was that it was a working meeting. the e mail that we see here from martin reynolds makes it very clear it is a social gathering, a drinks party. how does number ten defend that? i don t think it really can, i think don t think it really can, i think it knows that. it is going out of its way to try and manage it. it was really interesting over the weekend because we saw number ten trying to get ahead of this story by placing the blame on the senior private secretary to the prime minister martin reynolds. that is a process that we have seen before, olivia stratton got five and the pentacle issueis stratton got five and the pentacle issue is not about the aids around the prime minister, it is why there is so much more happening at number ten and what other consequences going to be? that is what most people are interested in. the idea of an internal enquiry is gr
your organising a drinks party, bring your own organising a drinks party, bring your own booze. and what strikes me as extraordinary, while they were setting as extraordinary, while they were setting up as extraordinary, while they were setting up the drinks party, inside number setting up the drinks party, inside number 10 setting up the drinks party, inside number 10 they had a press conference where a senior minister oliver conference where a senior minister 0liver dowden told the country that such social 0liver dowden told the country that such social gatherings were banned and you such social gatherings were banned and you must not do it. double standards and you must not do it. double standards here are extraordinary. i think standards here are extraordinary. i think the standards here are extraordinary. i think the fact the prime minister was there, there is no denying, although was there, there is no denying, although he says he is waiting for the outcome of