Dominic Cummings claims Boris Johnson 'waved aside' concerns over Downing Street party

Dominic Cummings has said he personally warned Boris Johnson in advance about the now-infamous Downing Street drinks party on May 20, 2020, but claimed the Prime Minister “waved it aside”.

Mr Johnson’s former aide made the claims in a new blogpost and said he would “swear under oath” that he had raised the subject of the event arranged by the PM’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds prior to it taking place.

He said: “I said to the PM something like: Martin’s invited the building to a drinks party, this is what I’m talking about, you’ve got to grip this madhouse. The PM waved it aside.”

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Mr Cummings said an unnamed “very senior official” had told Mr Reynolds holding the event would break lockdown rules. He said he believed that the Prime Minister had "lied to Parliament about parties".

New claims have been made by Dominic Cummings.New claims have been made by Dominic Cummings.
New claims have been made by Dominic Cummings.

The claims have been denied by Downing Street.

A No10 spokesperson said: “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 concludes.”

Read more:

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The row comes as Home Secretary Priti Patel insisted her support of Mr Johnson over Partygate is “absolutely consistent” with her previous public comments praising the police for breaking up illegal gatherings during lockdown.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who is Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, told the Commons: “On January 25, 2021 the Home Secretary commented on a Met Police video of officers breaking up an illegal party in London. She said, ‘This illegal gathering was an insult to those hospitalised with Covid, our NHS staff and everyone staying at home to protect them. Police are enforcing the rules to save lives.’

“Why has she now changed her mind?”

Ms Patel replied: “I stand by my comments, primarily because the entire country during the time of the virus itself, the pandemic, were absolutely doing incredible work to ensure that this virus was not being spread. My views have not changed on that, they are absolutely consistent.”

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She said the police are operationally independent of her and were following guidance issued by the Government, adding: “They did very, very good work to protect the public.”

Ms Cooper added: “How on earth can she defend the Prime Minister, who has publicly admitted breaking the rules? She isn’t even waiting for the Sue Gray report.”

Ms Cooper highlighted Ms Patel’s public backing for the Prime Minister, adding: “Tens of thousands of fines were given out in the months when Downing Street was holding parties and she told the police to enforce those rules, but now she’s defending someone who has admitted breaking them.

“The Home Secretary’s job is to uphold the rule of law. Does she realise how damaging it is to public trust and to trust in the police to be undermining the rule of law now?”

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Ms Patel reiterated the police and courts are independent of government before suggesting Labour was seeking to “pre-judge, pressure, smear, slander” rather than “let everyone get on and do the work that’s required”.

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