Downing Street parties: the PM’s birthday celebration fuels a new row

LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine): Boris Johnson is facing fresh pressure after Downing Street confirmed that workers gathered inside No 10 to celebrate his birthday during the first Covid wave when the country was on  lockdown.

According to ITV News, up to 30 individuals attended the celebration in June 2020, where they sang Happy Birthday and ate cake.

No. 10 said that workers had gathered “briefly” to give birthday wishes to the Prime Minister and that he was there “for less than 10 minutes.”

However, numerous MPs have reacted angrily to the latest discovery.

Most indoor meetings of more than two persons were prohibited at the time (19 June 2020).

ITV News said that the birthday celebration took place in the Cabinet Room shortly after 14:00 BST on that day, and that it was a surprise for Mr Johnson planned by his then-fiancee, Carrie Symonds, when he returned from an official visit to a Hertfordshire school.

George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, refuted ITV’s report about 30 individuals gathering in the Cabinet Room, claiming that the number of staff present there was “closer to 10” and that it “was literally just a birthday cake brought in at the end of the day.”

However, many MPs have reacted angrily to the latest discovery.

Labour MP Peter Kyle, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, told BBC Two’s Newsnight that there was no uncertainty about the charges levied of parties during the lockdown in No 10.

Ms Gray now has a fairly straightforward job, he noted.

Baroness Warsi, former Conservative Party chair, told BBC that Mr Johnson needed to think long and hard about what was best for this country.

The news of a meeting at No 10, celebrating the PM’s birthday during the first Covid-19 lockdown, Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen told Newsnight, “could well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour Party’s leader, reiterated his call for Boris Johnson to resign, stating, “The prime minister is a national distraction and he has to go.”

Cabinet colleagues, on the other hand, lent their support to the PM.

Nadine Dorries, Culture Secretary’s tweet said, “So, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for 10 minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party?” stated in a tweet.

Some Tory MPs, like Douglas Ross, the Scottish leader of the party, have called for Mr Johnson to resign, but many more are awaiting the results of Ms Gray’s investigation.

To force a leadership race, 54 MPs are required to write to the head of the backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, expressing their dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister.

Silvano Stagni

Silvano Stagni, contributor at Parliament Magazine and managing director of Perpetual Motion Consulting and Research, asks whether we have the data to navigate the changes to the relationship between making the investment decision and executing it.