good afternoon. in the last hour, the prime minister has offered his heartfelt apologies over attending a drinks gathering in the garden at number 10 in may 2020. borisjohnson told mps during prime minister s questions that the garden in downing st was seen as an extension of the office and he thought the gathering was a work event. at the time, across the uk, meeting more than one person outside your household was not allowed and workers were told to reduce the number of people they spent time with in a work setting. mrjohnson said that, even if the party was technically within the guidelines, he understood that millions of people wouldn t see it that way. the labour leader sir keir starmer accused mrjohnson of having run out of road after months of deceit and deception, and said he should consider his resignation. our political correspondent jonathan blake reports on a dramatic pmqs. did you lie about the parties, prime
party during a covid lockdown. cnn s salma abdelaziz is in london and reports his apology may not be enough to contain the fallout. is he now going to do the decent thing and resign? reporter: the famous unflopable boris johnson, the great political survivor, has finally flinched. a boozy party in downing street. after an outpouring of condemnation for attending what critics allege was a bring-your-other bottle party at his official residence, ten downing street in may, while the country was under strict covid rules. the prime minister say es saw it as a work event, but finally made an apology of sorts. even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there would be millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way.
said the prime minister was asked by his principal private secretary, martin reynolds, if the party on the 20th may should go ahead. cummings says the prime minister agreed it should. mrjohnson s former advisor also said that he would be prepared to swear under oath that this happened. downing street say 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. he has apologised to the house and is committed to making a further statement once the investigation it is concluded. our political correspondentjonathan blake is at westminster. i wonder what the reaction in downing street is going to be. we have heard that official statement but will this ruffle more feathers? i am sure it will raffle some. and
almost a week after the prime minister apologised after what he saying he believed was a work event during lockdown that are now claims he was warned about it. i during lockdown that are now claims he was warned about it. he was warned about it. i want to beain b he was warned about it. i want to begin by repeating my he was warned about it. i want to begin by repeating my apologies| he was warned about it. i want to i begin by repeating my apologies to everybody for the misjudgments that i have made and that we may have made a number ten and beyond whether in downing street for throughout the pandemic. in downing street for throughout the andemic. ., ,., , in downing street for throughout the andemic. ., , ., ., ., pandemic. nobody told me that what we were doing pandemic. nobody told me that what we were doing was pandemic. nobody told me that what we were doing was as pandemic. nobody told me that what we were doing was as you pandemic. nobody told me that what we were do
very, very disquieted by what they heard and didn t buy into it. i can give you a quick selection of quotes. 0ne mps said the statement was meaningless, it s overfor him. another tory mp said it doesn t bear scrutiny, it will unravel. another said, i think he s finally run out of teflon. so a lot of disquiet, and a lot of mps wondering whether his time may soon be up. but still, for the time being, i think, that line coming out of the government, to wait for the inquiry, is what everyone will have to do now, so sit and wait over the next few days to see how this build, and will we have to wait long to see what she says? that s giving some of his colleagues a bit of protection. i heard dominic raab saying earlier today the prime minister believed this event wasn t a social gathering, it was a work