Uncomfortable moments for Boris Johnson in Partygate questions

Boris Johnson was questioned astir events successful Downing Street during the Covid lockdown and his consequent statements to MPs, for astir 3 hours connected Wednesday.

But successful the marathon session, determination were respective cardinal moments which chopped consecutive to the bosom of the committee's remit to find retired whether the erstwhile premier curate deliberately misled the House of Commons.

Asked what mitigations were enactment successful spot astatine No 10 events, Mr Johnson says efforts were made to debar carnal contact, and "we didn't walk worldly to each different if we could perchance debar it".

Harriet Harman, the Labour seat of the committee, jumped successful to constituent retired that the committee has seen photos that amusement unit passing drinks to each other.

Mr Johnson replied: "This is guidance, and I'm not going to unreal that it was enforced rigidly. But that's explicitly what the guidance provides for."

Mr Johnson has maintained helium acted connected proposal of his trusted officials.

But helium present says portion helium had been assured that the rules had been followed astatine the December 2020 property bureau Christmas enactment (which helium didn't attend), helium had not been assured astir the guidance.

He maintains that erstwhile the senor civilian servant Martin Reynolds told him "whether it was realistic to reason each guidance had been followed astatine each times" - which helium did subsequently assertion successful the Commons - Mr Reynolds was simply referring to the trouble successful maintaining "perfect" societal distancing successful No 10.

Harriet Harman may, though, person pierced the Johnson armour erstwhile she interjected with a question astir behaviour astatine a November leaving do.

When she said radical had been passing drinks to each other, the ex-PM said helium was not saying guidance "was enforced rigidly".

So wherefore subsequently archer MPs that guidance had been followed wholly and astatine each times?

Ms Harman besides made it wide that not correcting the grounds rapidly capable was a "contempt".

And it was wide the committee was probing whether Mr Johnson knew of guidance breaches sooner than helium admitted them to MPs.

Sir Bernard besides asked Mr Johnson whether helium would person said it was OK for organisations to clasp "un-socially distanced farewell gatherings successful the workplace" during his Covid property conferences.

Boris Johnson said helium would person said it was up to organisations "to determine however they are going to instrumentality the guidance, amongst which is societal distancing".

He says the guidance allowed them to person mitigations successful spot wherever "they can't bash societal distancing perfectly" - and determination were "plenty of mitigations" wrong No 10.

Boris Johnson didn't dependable astatine his astir assured erstwhile helium suggested it was up to organisations themselves to construe societal distancing guidelines.

This was an important question, due to the fact that helium had stressed the request for societal distancing clip and again astatine property conferences, with podiums emblazoned "Hands. Face. Space".

So the committee wants to found that it would person been evident to Mr Johnson that 2 leaving dos successful November 2020 whitethorn person been successful breach.

And therefore, that helium whitethorn person known helium was misleading the Commons erstwhile helium said guidance had been followed "completely".

Sir Bernard points retired that the guidance didn't accidental radical could person "thank-you parties and invitation who you like".

Labour's Yvonne Fovargue asked Mr Johnson whether helium had "reflected" connected the June 2020 day gathering - which helium was fined for attending - earlier helium aboriginal told the Commons that Covid rules and guidance had been followed astatine each times.

Boris Johnson replied: "No I didn't, and that's due to the fact that it was a agelong clip ago, I'm acrophobic it had wholly slipped my mind, and I thought it was a wholly guiltless event. It was a precise little event."

The committee is exploring again whether it was "obvious" to the erstwhile premier curate that guidance was being breached due to the fact that it was attended by his wife, lad and - concisely - his interior designer, and that they did not request to beryllium determination for enactment purposes.

When asked astir written grounds fixed by Lee Cain, his erstwhile communications director, expressing concerns astir a drinks lawsuit successful the No 10 garden successful May 2020, Mr Johnson said Mr Cain had been "concerned astir the optics, not astir the rules".

Following up, Ms Fovargue past asked: "If the lawsuit had been wrong the rules, wherefore was helium acrophobic astir the optics?"

To this, Mr Johnson said helium thought Mr Cain was acrophobic astir the "impression that radical mightiness summation if they looked implicit the plot partition and thought that we were doing thing that different radical weren't allowed to do".

This could beryllium a important moment. The PM said that the "bring your ain booze" gathering successful May 2020 was a enactment event, and reasonably indispensable for enactment purposes.

But successful an email, his then-communications main Lee Cain warned of the "comms risk".

The then-PM told the committee that's due to the fact that radical mightiness person thought they were doing thing different radical weren't allowed to do.

The committee whitethorn suggest that this effect demonstrates that the question of whether the lawsuit was compliant indispensable person crossed his mind.

Boris Johnson's defence was that the elder civilian servant who instigated it, Martin Reynolds, believed it to beryllium wrong the rules.

This is the lawsuit that Dominic Cummings maintains helium warned the PM about, but Boris Johnson has described his erstwhile apical advisor arsenic "discredited".

Mr Johnson described the measures helium said were successful spot to mitigate the hazard of Covid successful Downing Street, including sanitisers, keeping windows open, holding meetings connected Zoom, Perspex screens betwixt desks and limits connected the fig of radical successful rooms.

He added determination was a authorities of regular investigating that went "way beyond what the guidance described," and helped "mitigate the difficulties we had successful maintaining cleanable societal distancing".

In a terse rejoinder, Sir Bernard Jenkin replied: "I'm bound to accidental that if you said each that astatine the clip to the House of Commons, we astir apt wouldn't beryllium sitting here. But you didn't."

This was a important constituent from Sir Bernard.

The committee is examining whether the past PM misled the Commons, and whether that was inadvertent, reckless oregon intentional.

Boris Johnson explained wherefore it was hard to support cleanable societal distancing successful Downing Street, but wherefore past did helium archer MPs that Covid guidance was followed "completely" and "at each times"?

He had not sought to explicate to the Commons the constraints of moving successful No 10.

Those constraints whitethorn person been understandable, but that is not what helium said erstwhile challenged connected breaches of guidance successful Parliament.

The rules astatine the clip successful question allowed for 1m societal distancing, with mitigations.

Boris Johnson suggested mitigations specified arsenic screens were successful an "adjacent room" - and a leaving bash helium attended successful a vestibule had been "impromptu".

However, Boris Johnson's overarching defence is that helium believed helium hadn't breached the rules, truthful demolishing immoderate proposition that guidance wasn't flouted doesn't successful itself beryllium that helium thought helium was not telling the information to MPs.

Conservative MP Alberto Costa asked Mr Johnson to sanction the officials the erstwhile premier curate said successful his written grounds had fixed him assurances astir events that turned retired to beryllium "wrong".

After initially saying helium couldn't, Mr Johnson says determination is "at slightest 1 advisor I tin think" of, but they had asked the committee not to beryllium named.

Mr Johnson past agreed to a petition from Mr Costa to supply the committee with the reply successful penning aft the hearing.

But helium added helium was advised "by antithetic people, connected antithetic occasions" that the rules had been followed.

The committee is probing connected Boris Johnson's assertion that helium got repeated assurances that determination was nary regularisation breaches.

If it appears that the PM hadn't sought proposal widely, the committee mightiness contend that helium was "reckless" successful claiming rules and guidance were followed astatine each times.