LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A minister has stated that an examination into claims that Carrie Johnson held a party during the lockdown that was not included in the Sue Gray investigation is not immediately clear.
Over the last six months, Chris Philp, the minister for technology and digital economy, told Sky News’ Kay Burley that there has been an unbelievably extensive series of investigations into parties that have broken COVID standards.
It was not immediately evident to him that they needed any further investigations after having had two distinct inquiries, including by the police, over many months, he said, when that had arguably, properly, been the most exhaustively investigated series of circumstances in recent years.
Mr Philp went on to say that he had “no inside knowledge” of the alleged incident and that unless there is anything very striking that hasn’t been talked about before, he does not believe it should be probed because both inquiries were quite thorough.
The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that Cabinet Secretary Simon Case had received previously unknown texts indicating that the prime minister’s wife planned a party with guests for the 56th birthday of her husband on June 19, 2020, at No 11 flat, where the Johnsons reside.
Boris Johnson is also said to have visited the flat. Two or more individuals were prohibited from being indoors except for job purposes at the time.
The incident had never been made public before, and it was not included in the Sue Gray investigation.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, as well as Chancellor Rishi Sunak, were penalised for being at a gathering in the Cabinet room to celebrate the prime minister’s birthday.
A Downing Street official allegedly told Mrs Johnson her husband was on his way up to the flat for his birthday, to which she replied that she was already there with some male friends, according to messages forwarded to Mr Case.
The aide told Ms Gray of the conversations in January, but they refused to share the messages. They stated that they would show them to the inquiry officials in person and that they would hand them over to the Metropolitan Police.
According to the aide, the Gray investigation team did not follow through on the offer, and after the Met’s probe was completed two weeks ago, they provided the texts to the Gray team, but nothing occurred.
Despite being instructed to disclose all pertinent evidence to the Gray probe, the aide did not volunteer to deliver the texts to them, according to the Cabinet Office.
The conversation that happened on email with the aide on the problem was given to Met police by Ms Gray’s staff, according to the Cabinet Office.
They went on to say that the aide only offered to disclose the messages as they were preparing to publish the Sue Gray probe last week, but that they did take into consideration the aide’s comments after the Met report that they were requested to organise the apartment party.
According to The Telegraph, Mrs Johnson could now be called upon to speak before MPs on parliament’s privileges committee, who are probing whether the Prime Minister willfully deceived the Commons by repeatedly rejecting any parties that had taken place.
Mrs Johnson’s party on November 13, 2020, in the No 11 apartment, where ABBA songs were allegedly played, was not mentioned in the Gray investigation, and no one was punished by the Met.
