'Wine-Time Friday' at No 10 saw drinking start at 4pm, insiders reveal

Even as Westminster was battered by torrential rain, Tuesday still felt like the calm before the storm for Boris Johnson.

With the long-awaited Sue Gray report now widely expected to be published at any time on Wednesday, the Prime Minister - who received one fixed penalty notice from the Metropolitan Police - still faces what could be a moment of maximum political danger in the 'partygate' crisis.

The publication of photographs showing Mr Johnson raising a toast with aides at No 10 on November 13, 2020 - when Britain was under the second of three lockdowns he imposed - has only added to a "sulphurous" mood on the backbenches.

But others feel there will be nothing truly damaging for the PM in Ms Gray's findings. And asked whether the scandal came up at today's Cabinet meeting, Anne Marie-Trevelyan was defiant in her answer: "There are more important matters to discuss."

Mr Johnson's political future depends on whether his party, and eventually the public, agree.

Jack Maidment will be back early tomorrow to guide you through what will be an unmissable day of news, analysis and reaction across Westminster.

Kwasi Kwarteng, minister for your gas bill, is the closest thing we have to a Cavalier in government. If he could wear a sword, he would. 

He breezed into the energy committee meeting - "Hello! Hello!" - trailed by a squire, a broken-looking civil servant called Daniel who probably sent in his resignation months ago, forgetting that KK never reads his emails.

Ofgem warns the price cap will hit £2,800, began Darren Jones, the chairman, and fuel poverty is predicted to affect 12 million homes. So what are you going to do about it?

I'm sure help is on the way, said KK, though it's not his place to say what or how we'll pay for it. "A windfall tax," asked Jones? Not a fan, said KK: I'd rather gamble on growth.

Tim Stanley: The Business Secretary appears to have few answers

Sue Gray, the woman charged with investigating partygate, is expected to deliver her long-awaited report tomorrow. 

The civil servant has been freed to publish the findings of her investigation into the Downing Street parties after the Met Police completed its investigation into breaches of Covid restrictions.

But who is the woman holding the potentially damaging report, and why was she chosen?

Robert Mendick, our Chief Reporter, explains all

Want to know more about the highest ranking public official to be implicated in the partygate scandal? Thankfully Camilla Turner, our Chief Political Correspondent, is on the case.

As the head of the civil service, Simon Case is the highest ranking public official to be implicated in the partygate scandal.

Aged 43 and with a PhD in political history, the civil servant’s roles have included director of strategy for GCHQ and principal private secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May.

He left Government in 2018 to take up a role as private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge but was drafted back into Whitehall in April 2020 to help with the Government’s pandemic response efforts.

His deployment to the Cabinet Office at the height of the first national lockdown - which was initially intended as a temporary secondment from his royal duties - led to his rapid promotion through the ranks of the civil service high command.

Profile: The partygate protagonist who led Whitehall's prep for Brexit

The atmosphere on the Tory backbenches is "sulphurous" after photos emerged of Boris Johnson raising a toast at Downing Street on Monday evening.

While the majority of MPs on the fence about Mr Johnson's future are waiting until tomorrow to make a decision, the pictorial evidence published by ITV News does not appear to have helped matters.

"I'm going to be waiting until I see the report to make a final decision," a senior Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister tells the Telegraph this afternoon.

"But after those photos came out, the mood has been pretty sulphurous. People are pretty shocked."

Pictures. It so often comes down to pictures, writes Henry Hill.

We writers might be loath to admit it, but one good picture (or better yet, video) can cut through with the public in a way no volume of written word can match.

All the way back at the start of Partygate – and doesn’t that feel like a very long time ago – it was the video of Allegra Stratton joking with other members of the Downing Street operation about what went on that really fired public outrage. (She remains the only person to have resigned over it.)

Now we have photographs of Boris Johnson, surrounded by bottles of alcohol, leading his team in a cheery toast at a time when the rest of us were given to understand that such things were illegal and a dire danger to public health.

Henry Hill: These photos could spark a lethal electoral shock

There are "further changes to come" at Downing Street in the wake of claims about routine 'Wine-Time Friday' drinking events allegedly held there during the pandemic, Boris Johnson's official spokesman has said. 

"I think you’ve heard the PM talk when the interim report was published which raised some of these challenges that changes needed to be made and that’s what the Prime Minister did," the spokesman told reporters.

He pointed to the "wholesale changes" at No 10 after the resignations of Dan Rosenfield, his former Chief of Staff, Martin Reynolds, his former principal private secretary, and Jack Doyle, his former director of communications, after the release of the interim Sue Gray update in February.

"There have been some wholesale changes, not least in senior positions at the top of Number 10, the establishment of the office of the Prime Minister, the creation of a permanent secretary to the Prime Minister, and there are further changes to come. So this is something the PM takes very seriously."

Downing Street has rejected suggestions any further support related to the cost-of-living crisis would be used as a deflection from 'partygate'.

"You’ll know that this has been a longstanding challenge both in the UK and globally," Boris Johnson's official spokesman said this afternoon.

"It’s something the PM and chancellor have been working on very closely so I’d obviously refute any suggestion that the timings would be used in that way. I’m unable to give you a steer on timing for any possible future announcements, not least because nothing’s been decided yet.”

On Ofgem's warnings the price cap will surge to £2,800 (see 1.24pm), the spokesman added: "It is an important factor in deciding what the challenges the public are going to face in October, when this rise is going to come in, and therefore helps with planning for any future response."

The spokesman also indicated further measures would not require a full Cabinet meeting to be signed off.

Dominic Penna here, seeing you through the last of today's updates.

Downing Street has said it does not yet know whether Boris Johnson will be making the trip to Qatar for the World Cup at the end of this year (see 3.49pm).

Asked if he planned to attend, Mr Johnson's official spokesman said: "I don’t know at the moment.

"I don’t think we set any plans that far ahead for foreign travel."

Boris Johnson has been invited to attend the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by the country’s leader as the pair met in No 10 for talks today.

During a bilateral meeting, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said it was a “special year” for his country as it hosts the global football competition.

He said: “I invite the Prime Minister to come and see the World Cup. England have a very strong young team.”

The Prime Minister replied: “Yes. Well, we have got a tough group.”

England has been drawn in the same group as Iran, the US and the winner of a play-off between Wales and either Scotland or Ukraine.

The Mayor of London has demanded the Met Police provide an explanation to the public as to why the Prime Minister was not fined for attending a boozy leaving party.

Sadiq Khan has written to Acting Commissioner Sir Stephen House asking him to provide transparency around the Partygate investigation in order to ensure public trust and confidence in the force.

Scotland Yard has so far refused to elaborate on why it decided to issue some people with fines for attending illegal events, but let others off.

You can read the full story here.

Rishi Sunak raked in £10bn more last month than in April 2021 as the National Insurance raid and the economic recovery combined to help restore the public finances, raising pressure on the Chancellor to ease the cost-of-living crisis with tax cuts or cash handouts.

But much of the cash could be sucked away in interest payments as one-quarter of the national debt is linked to the RPI measure of inflation, which hit a 40-year high of 11.1pc last month.

Economist Michal Stelmach at KPMG warned that as a result “we now expect monthly interest spending to reach an eye-watering £16bn in June, exceeding the annual day-to-day budget of the Home Office.”

You can read the full story here.

Ofgem has warned that the energy price cap will surge to £2,800 in October (see the post below at 13.24). 

Rachel Reeves, Labour's shadow chancellor, responded to the news by repeating her party's call for the Government to bring forward an emergency Budget and a windfall tax on oil and gas giants. 

She said: “This is extremely concerning and will cause huge worry for families already facing soaring bills and rising inflation.

“How many more alarm bells does the Chancellor need to hear before he acts? The Government have got to get a grip on this crisis and to protect families and our economy."

Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, has suggested he does not believe Boris Johnson is a "serious leader". 

Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Tugendhat would not be drawn on the question of whether Mr Johnson should be replaced as Tory leader. 

But he said: “My view is pretty clear which is that I think we need a serious team and we need a serious leader. 

“I think frankly in the last few weeks, last few months we have failed to have that and we need to make sure that we have got somebody who can do it in the years to come.” 

Mark Harper, the Tory former chief whip, said that regardless of how long Boris Johnson was at the leaving party on November 13, 2020 he "should have sent everyone home".

Mr Harper, who has already called for the PM to quit, told the BBC it is "not just the events it’s the fact he’s not been straightforward about it".

He said: "I’m fed up with my colleagues, a number of decent men and women, who are being asked to go out on the television day after day and saying things that are frankly ridiculous and defending the indefensible. That’s not what a leader should do."

He added: "Not being straight with people is a real problem and that’s why I said to the Prime Minister that I felt he wasn’t worthy of his office and he should go... I stick to that view and I think everything that’s happened since supports it."

Gordon Rayner, The Telegraph's Associate Editor, has weighed up how the timing of the release of the Sue Gray report could help or hinder Boris Johnson: 

Wise heads around the Prime Minister will be pointing out to him that there is a distinct advantage in the timing of Ms Gray’s report if it is published on Wednesday.

A morning release of the report would enable Mr Johnson to address its contents at Prime Minister’s Questions, absorb the criticism in one parliamentary hit, and then send MPs off for the Whitsun recess on Thursday, ready for the country to start obsessing over the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

And as the late, great US statesman Colin Powell once said, bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.

You can read the full piece here.

The BBC has published a series of claims from No 10 “insiders” about life in Downing Street during the pandemic. These are the key claims which have been made:

• Drinking events were routine: One person said drinking events happened “every week” and “the event invites for Friday press office drinks were just nailed into the diary”. The “Wine-Time Friday” events were often scheduled for 4pm.
• Staff would arrive to work at No 10 and find empty bottles in “overflowing” bins and on tables.
• Staff “made fun” of a Downing Street security guard when they tried to break up a party.
• No 10 was seen by staff during the pandemic as a “bubble” where Covid rules did not really apply.

Ofgem has warned that the energy price cap will surge to £2,800 in October, piling even more pressure on already-strained household budgets.

The energy regulator said it expects the cap to rise 42pc from its current level of £1,971. That’s after a 54pc increase in April and up from £1,277 in October 2021.

Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of Ofgem, told MPs on the BEIS Committee: “The price changes are genuinely a once in a generation event not seen since the oil crisis in the 1970s.”

You can read the full story here.

MPs have called on the head of the Foreign Office to resign over the “disastrous” evacuation of Afghanistan. 

In an excoriating report, Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said Sir Philip Barton thwarted their investigation into last summer’s withdrawal from Kabul by providing misleading and evasive answers (you can read the full story here). 

Downing Street said at lunchtime that it disputed aspects of the report and said Boris Johnson retains full confidence in Sir Philip as FCDO permanent secretary.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “We don’t agree with all of the conclusions that the committee has drawn on this.”

The Government has hinted that public sector workers should brace for pay rises far below inflation.

The issue of public sector pay was discussed at this morning's Cabinet meeting and the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: "The Prime Minister said the public were understandably anxious about global cost of living pressures and that the Government would continue to support those most in need.

"The Government has already promised to increase public sector spending and is awaiting decisions by the public sector review bodies.

"However, ministers made clear that the risk of triggering higher inflation must be part of considerations when deciding pay awards this year."

Suella Braverman, the Attorney General, told the Cabinet this morning that the Government's legal department is "too risk averse" and too often adopts a "computer says no" mentality. 

Ms Braverman updated the Cabinet on a review that has been undertaken on the matter. The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: "She said overall performance was high however there were incidences where advice was too risk averse or took a ‘computer says no’ approach to dealing with challenging policy areas.  

"Following the review the Government legal department has received revised guidance to ensure they are more attuned to the Government’s desire to tackle difficult and long-standing issues."

Downing Street said Boris Johnson opened this morning's Cabinet meeting by talking about the cost of living crisis. 

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: "The Prime Minister opened Cabinet by saying that this Government is getting on with the job that the people of the UK sent them here to do, growing the economy yo address the cost of living." 

Mr Johnson highlighted low unemployment numbers and said that "while this was fantastic news and shows we are heading in the right direction, there is still a huge amount of work to be done".

The spokesman said: "He added that this means being responsible with every pound of public money we spend and making sure all our departments and the services they deliver are as efficient and as effective as they can be." 

Downing Street has confirmed that partygate was not discussed at this morning's meeting of the Cabinet (see the post below at 11.48). 

Boris Johnson is yet to receive the Sue Gray report into partygate, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman has said. 

Downing Street said Boris Johnson did not suggest making changes to Sue Gray's partygate report when they met earlier this month. 

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: "The contents of the report were not discussed.”  

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman has denied a claim that Boris Johnson suggested to Sue Gray during a private meeting that she could drop her plans to publish her partygate report (see the post below at 08.30). 

The spokesman said: "I don't recognise that characterisation. I think you will know this was a private meeting but this was a legitimate meeting about process... rather than the contents of the report. 

"The Prime Minister wants the report to be published. He is looking forward to that, the conclusion of the report and it being put in the public domain." 

Asked again if Mr Johnson had made the suggestion, the spokesman said: "The Prime Minister did not ask her to drop the report or not proceed with the report. 

"In fact, as you will know, it is the Prime Minister that commissioned the report. He wants the report to be published. Obviously it is for Sue Gray to decide when that should be." 

Boris Johnson managed to get through this morning's Cabinet meeting without a single minister raising either partygate or the windfall tax plans, our Whitehall Correspondent Tony Diver reports.

One source who has been briefed on the meeting said ministers kept to their briefs and updated Mr Johnson on the latest goings-on in their departments.

Although privately many of the Cabinet have deep reservations about plans for a windfall tax on energy producers, not one raised the issue in front of their colleagues. 

Also not on the agenda: the photos of the Prime Minister at a leaving party that were splashed across today's newspapers.

"You know what Cabinet's like," a Whitehall source told The Telegraph. "They always ignore the elephant in the room."

The emergence of photographs of Boris Johnson raising a toast with a group of colleagues at a No 10 leaving do on November 13, 2020, has prompted fresh scrutiny of the statements the PM has made about partygate in the House of Commons. 

One exchange in the chamber is now going viral online - and for obvious reasons. 

Catherine West, the Labour MP, had asked Mr Johnson at PMQs on December 8, 2021: "Will the Prime Minister tell the House whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November?"

Mr Johnson replied: "No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times."

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the Government has been "paralysed" by partygate as he criticised ministers for failing to bring forward a windfall tax on oil and gas giants to help tackle the cost of living crisis. 

Told that ministers are looking at a potential windfall tax, Mr Ashworth told Sky News: “They are looking at it but they are paralysed by inaction, aren’t they. They could impose a windfall tax on those huge profits the energy companies are making.” 

Mr Ashworth added: “They need to be getting on with this. They could do a windfall tax today.”

Tory MPs say privately that they want Boris Johnson to be ousted from No 10, Jonathan Ashworth said this morning. 

Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary told Sky News: “It is not really in the national interest for him to continue in office.

"Tory MPs, they will tell you privately they want shot of him, it is time they grew a backbone and got rid of him.”

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said he believes it will be "very difficult for Boris Johnson to reconcile" his comments about no rules being broken in No 10 with the leaked photographs of him toasting with colleagues at a leaving party. 

He told Sky News: "I think it is very difficult for Boris Johnson to reconcile what he said at the despatch box when he said there wasn't a party with these pictures that have emerged when there are bottles of drink everywhere, he is merrily toasting the assembled gathering. 

"For me it is just depressing really because we have got this awful cost of living tsunami coming... you need a government focused on the cost of living crisis, putting in place measures to get more people into work, to grow the economy. 

"Instead the Government are completely pre-occupied with Boris Johnson's political survival and not the financial survival of the viewers."

Sir Roger Gale, a veteran Tory MP who has previously called for Boris Johnson to resign, has said he believes the Prime Minister "misled" the House of Commons on partygate. 

He tweeted: "I believe that the PM has misled the HoC’s from the despatch box. That is a resignation issue. I have made my own position clear.

"It is now a matter for my Conservative parliamentary colleagues to decide whether or not to instigate a vote of no confidence."

 Boris Johnson is convening a meeting of his Cabinet in 10 Downing Street this morning. 

We should get a readout of what was discussed later on today.

Previous major moments in the partygate scandal have not been discussed at Cabinet so it will be interesting to see if it was raised at today's meeting.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, was asked during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if he believes the police should explain why the PM was not fined over the leaving party. 

He said: "I don’t think the police should provide running commentaries, no.”

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, suggested Boris Johnson was not fined for attending a leaving party in No 10 because he left “pretty quick”.

Discussing the pictures of the PM, Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think they are disappointing, it makes me angry to see them.

“It looks to me he was asked to go and thank a member of staff who was leaving, raises a glass to them and, I imagine, comes in and out pretty quick, which is presumably why the police have not issued a fixed-penalty notice to the Prime Minister for that event.”

A report in The Times claimed Boris Johnson had suggested to Sue Gray that she could drop her plans to publish the findings of her partygate probe after Scotland Yard finished its investigation (see the post below at 08.30).

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, was asked about the claim during an interview on Sky News and he said: “Look, I wasn’t at the meeting but I know there were officials there. The meeting was actually arranged by officials just on the timing and logistics of the report so beyond that I’m afraid I don’t have any useful information.”

Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, said this morning that he believes the Metropolitan Police should explain why Boris Johnson was not fined for attending the November 13, 2020, event in No 10.

Mr Khan’s comments could be significant because in London, the elected mayor is the equivalent of a police and crime commissioner with responsibility for the “totality of policing in the capital”.

In simple terms that means part of Mr Khan’s job is to hold Scotland Yard to account.

The fact that he has now said the Met should explain how it reached its partygate conclusions will pile the pressure on the force to do so.

Grant Shapps has insisted Boris Johnson was not "partying" at a No 10 leaving do after leaked photographs emerged which showed the PM raising a toast with a group of colleagues. 

The Transport Secretary told Sky News: “The question is, was he down there partying? No, clearly not. He had gone by to say thanks and raise a glass to a colleague who was leaving. 

“The answer to this of course is that the police have spent a lot of time, with a lot of people and a lot of resources crawling over it and they have come to their conclusion, as we know, he wasn’t fined for that event.”

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said he did not "enjoy" seeing the photographs of the PM but he insisted "this is well covered territory". 

He told Sky News: “By the looks of things he goes and thanks somebody who is leaving, raises a glass to them and, as I say, I, having, like everyone in this country, lived through coronavirus and in many cases made enormous sacrifices, don’t enjoy seeing pictures that suggest anything else. 

“But this is well-covered territory. We have seen this. We have known about this and the only difference is seeing the photograph.”

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, is on the morning media round for the Government. 

He told Sky News that he was "disappointed" after seeing the photographs of Boris Johnson raising a toast with a group of colleagues inside No 10. 

“Look, I don’t want to say otherwise because I am disappointed to see what happened in Downing Street and we know now because the police have issued fines that that wasn’t right," he said. 

“But the Prime Minister has completely reformed Downing Street, set up a new office of the prime minister, has a new permanent secretary running that, so it is completely re-organised, [he] has apologised which I think is very important and of course it has been thoroughly investigated.”

The Telegraph understands that Downing Street is expecting to receive the Sue Gray report into partygate tomorrow rather than today. 

That could set up a blockbuster edition of PMQs at noon tomorrow before a full statement from the PM in the House of Commons in the afternoon.

Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has called for answers from Downing Street after it was claimed Boris Johnson suggested to Sue Gray that she did not need to publish her partygate report (see the post below at 08.30).

Sir Ed said: "Boris Johnson lied to Parliament and the public. Now we learn he apparently put pressure on Sue Gray to scrap her report.

"If these stories are true, how can any Conservative MP look their constituents in the eye and tell them Boris Johnson is fit to govern?

"The British public needs transparency now. If Boris Johnson won’t release the minutes of his meeting with Sue Gray, Liberal Democrats will use every route available in Parliament to force him to."

Downing Street yesterday admitted it was No 10 officials who had first suggested a private meeting between Boris Johnson and Sue Gray to discuss the partygate report.

No 10 insisted the meeting, held earlier this month, was used to discuss “timings and publication process”.

But a report in The Times today claimed Mr Johnson had suggested to Ms Gray that she could drop her plans to publish the report after Scotland Yard finished its investigation.

A Whitehall source told the newspaper: “He asked her, is there much point in doing it now that it's all out there?"

A number of Tory MPs have expressed concerns about the photographs of Boris Johnson. 

Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, told the BBC: “Seriousness in government matters. It costs us all. And I’m afraid this just doesn’t look serious.”

David Simmonds, another Conservative MP, said Mr Johnson must explain the circumstances surrounding the photos. 

He told the BBC: "Clearly it does raise a new question that we were all told very clearly that there definitely had not been a party on the day in question and these photographs have emerged which suggest that that’s not the case. We need to hear the Prime Minister’s explanation for that.”

He said it would be “very difficult” for Mr Johnson to provide a satisfactory answer, but added: “It seems to me he could construct some defence about how people were at work, but we need to see this in context. Many of my constituents lost relatives, they lost friends and family members, my father-in-law died of Covid.”

We cannot say for certain when the Sue Gray report will be published: Many people in Westminster believe it will be either today or tomorrow. 

However, Downing Street is understood to believe it is probable it will receive the Sue Gray report into partygate on Wednesday. So we may have to wait another day. 

Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, said the Metropolitan Police should explain why Boris Johnson was not fined over the November 13, 2020 event in 10 Downing Street. 

He told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme that he had avoided commenting on the police probe "because it is an operational matter" and to avoid accusations of playing politics. 

But he said: "So I have not asked questions about this, I have kept away from this, but I think it is important when it comes to trust and confidence, when it comes to policing by consent, when it comes to questions being asked about the integrity of an investigation, the police explain why they have reached the conclusions they have.” 

He added: “Of course Sue Gray will publish her report this week and of course the Prime Minister will have to answer for himself. But I think the police should explain why they reached their conclusions and provide that clarity.”

Good morning and welcome to today's politics live blog. 

Westminster is still reacting to the publication yesterday of leaked photographs of Boris Johnson raising a toast with a group of colleagues  inside No 10 at a time when strict Covid restrictions were in force.

There is growing pressure this morning on the Metropolitan Police to set out how it reached its conclusions in the partygate probe. 

Meanwhile, Whitehall is braced for the publication, potentially today, of the full Sue Gray report. It promises to be a busy day, full of twists and turns and I will guide you through the key developments.