Sources say Boris Johnson joined Party 10 during lockdown in May 2020 coronavirus

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Sources have claimed that Boris Johnson joined Team 10 at a party in Downing Street during the first shutdown in May last year, raising questions about whether there has been a culture of rule-breaking over the course of several months.

The prime minister spent about 15 minutes with staff at the alleged social gathering on May 15, 2020, telling an aide inside No. 10 that they deserved a drink due to “beating the coronavirus”, according to a joint investigation by the Guardian and The Independent.

Sources claimed that about 20 employees drank wine, spirits and ate pizza after a press conference that day, some in offices inside No. 10 and others went to the park. They claimed that some employees drank alcohol late into the evening.

The rules at that time allowed only two people from different families to meet outside at a distance of two meters. Earlier that evening, Matt Hancock, the then health secretary, urged people to “stay home as much as possible” and asked them to “please stick to the rules, watch your family and not take risks” during the period of good weather.

The claims follow a string of reports about similar alleged events in Downing Street and elsewhere during the post-Christmas lockdown, and suggest the rules may have been broken over a series of months.

Matt Hancock, then the health secretary, gave a news conference on May 15, 2020 when he urged people to ‘stay home as much as possible’. Photo: Andrew Parsons/Downing Street Bulletin/EPA

The May 15 gathering, at which some aides allegedly kept drinking until late in the evening, followed a 5pm Covid press conference, led by Hancock that day.

Sources said Hancock was also seen at the event, which was described as a “festive” feeling given the initial easing of some restrictions and the fine weather in London that day.

While sources have claimed that both Johnson and Hancock were present for a short time when the staff and assistants were drinking, there is no indication that they drank themselves, or stayed up late.

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Asked about Johnson’s comment about “crushing” the virus, and his presence at the alleged party where 10 employees were drinking and socializing, his spokesperson said: “In the summer months, Downing Street employees use the park regularly for some meetings. On May 15, 2020, it was held The Prime Minister had a series of meetings throughout the afternoon, including briefly with the then Minister of Health and Welfare and his team in the garden after a press conference.

The Prime Minister went to his residence shortly after seven in the evening. The few staff required to work in Downing Street Park remained for part of the afternoon and evening.”

A Hancock spokesperson described the sources’ allegations as “incorrect.” After the press conference, which ended at about 5.53pm, Matt surveyed his team, then went to Downing Street Park to question the prime minister. A Hancock spokesperson said: “He left Downing Street at 6.32pm and returned to the Department of Health and Social Care.

At the press conference, joined by Jenny Harris, at the time, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Hancock, delivered a warning letter.

The opening data indicated that England remained on the second-highest level of alert for Covid, four, with 10,700 people hospitalized with the virus and 384 coronavirus deaths that day.

Hancock urged people to stick to a slight respite in the lockdown. “This weekend, with the good weather and the new rules, I hope people will have fun outside but please stick to the rules, watch your family and not take risks,” he said.

The allegations are another blow to Johnson, who has been reeling from reports detailing a series of apparent parties that violated lockdown last winter and has been widely derided for his insistence that no rules were broken.

Among them was an alleged party on December 18, 2020, the time when all indoor social mingling was banned in London, including wine, cheese and staff exchanging “secret Santa” gifts.

Downing Street denied the event took place, a position that was undermined when video footage of 10 officials joking about the event surfaced four days later. Allegra Stratton, Johnson’s former press secretary, has resigned as a spokesperson for Cop26 in the ensuing uproar.

Johnson is also known to have attended an event earlier, on November 27 last year, which is believed to have been an impromptu departure for an aide, Cleo Watson.

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